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a a gcssscKgaagstascg^gasce^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. % 



Chap. 

She!f 






t o t a & 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



HAND-BOOK OF TORONTO 



CONTAINING ITS 



CLIMATE, GEOLOGY, NATURAL HISTORY, 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, 



COURTS OE LAW, MUNICIPAL ARRANGEMENTS, 

* 
&c. (Sec. 



BY A MEMBER OF THE PRESS. 



TORONTO : 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY LOVELL AND GIBSON, YONGE STREET, 

1858. 



.5"., 



Entered according to the Act of the Provincial Parliament, in the year 1858, 

BY MESSRS. LOVELL & GIBSON (FOR THE AUTHOR), 

In the Office of the Registrar of the Province of Canada. 






H 



\ 



PREFACE. 

In the Summer of 1855 the proof sheets of a "Guide to 
Toronto " with Niagara Falls as its starting point — were put into 
my hands by a Bookseller in town, to be corrected and revised — as 
the Work was going through the press, the gentleman who had 
prepared it having left the City. In order to verify and give a 
few additional touches to the description, I made a special trip 
to the opening scene, and having gazed and gazed again upon 
that endless roll of living waters surging down into the foaming 
abyss, I took a conveyance at the Clifton House and proceeded 
leisurely along through the fine old district, taking special note of 
Lundy's Lane, and the ancient Battle Field, on which the 
little village of Drummondville now quietly reposes ; passed on 
through the village of Stamford to the summit of the Queenston 
Heights, — now sacred to the memory of the gallant Brock, — 
where, standing some 300 feet above the level of the Lake, you 
obtain a magnificent view of the surrounding country, and 
of the river now freed from its angry foam, silently pursuing 
its tortuous course ; and catch a stray glimpse of the Scarboro' 
Heights in the distance. I then descended to the little 
village of Queenston, crossed the river and took steamer for 
Toronto. In this way the incidents necessary to fill up a few 
pages of a Guide Book were carefully sketched. But the work 
appeared to me altogether too ephemeral, and although the 
greater part of it was in the press, the Bookseller at my request 
postponed its publication, until there was a field for something 
of more permanent value and on a broader basis. 

That conception is now matured and although there are many 
things left unnoticed, and much unsaid that might have been 
said — enough is presented in the following pages to show that 
a considerable amount of labour and investigation have been 
bestowed — even although the preliminary chapters are altoge- 
ther omitted. In arranging my material I proceeded upon the 
principle that each section should be revised by some gentlemen 
whose business it is to know practically the subject upon which it 



IV PEEEACE. 

treats, and I would take this manner of tendering ray warmest 
gratitude to the friends who so freely and kindly aided me. In 
fact in looking over the work now that it is completed, — if there 
he any merit connected with it, — all the share that I can claim 
is that of having determined the kind of information wanted, 
and then selected the best possible source from whence to obtain 
it. To Sir "William Logan, Professor Hincks, Mr. May, and 
Mr. Couper, I am under deep obligations. Those other friends 
to whom I have alluded, I need not here enumerate, as I am not 
at liberty to name them all. 

In all matters of fact of an early date, I am indebted to the 
histories referred to in the work ; for all matters of opinion I 
am alone responsible. I have endeavoured to walk through the 
City with my eyes open, and have formed my opinion of men and 
things as they presented themselves to my own observation, 
altogether irrespective of what the impressions of others may 
be, and in so far as I can judge I have endeavoured to give my 
own impressions to the public. 

The historical department is perhaps much less diffuse than 
it might have been ; but there is so much of party politics 
mixed up with our earlier history, that without entering upon 
the troubled sea of politics it was impossible to be much more 
minute than I have been, and I had too much regard for Poor 
Richard's advice to trust myself upon the angry surf, 

" For vessels large may venture more 
But little boats should keep near shore." 

The beautiful map of the City which accompanies this work 
has been prepared by Mr. Ellis, engraver, expressly for the work, 
and it contains a feature never before displayed in any Canadian 
map, that of giving a microscopic representation of public build- 
ings upon the sites which they respectively occupy, This has 
of course considerably increased the expense of the work but it 
has also enhanced its value. The engraving of the Provincial 
Exhibition Building; has also been prepared for this work, and 
its execution reflects the highest credit upon Mr. Seymour for 
the fineness of detail and the exquisite finish he has given it. 

Toronto, 20th Sept., 1858. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Toronto 9 

Section I. THE CLIMATE.— Temperature— Barometrical Pressure— Winds 
—Rain and Snow— Thunder Storms— Auroras— Climatology 10 

Section II. GEOLOGY 15 

Section III. NATURAL HISTORY.— The Mora— Trees, Shrubs, Flowers— 
The Fauna— Carnivora— Marsupialia— Rodentia.— Ave s— Diurnal Birds of 
Prey— Nocturnal Birds of Prey— Perching Birds— Climbers— Scrapers— Stilt 
Birds or "Waders— Swimming Birds.— Reptilia— Turtles— Snakes— Progs — 
Salamanders— Amphiuma— Lizards.— Pisces— Perch, Bass, Dace, Pike, Eels. 
— Insecta— Beetles, Grasshoppers, Locusts, Dragon- flies, Butterflies, Moths, 
Saw-flies, Mosquitoes.— Mollusca 17-69 

Section IV. STATISTICS— Governor Simcoe— Building of York— Governor 
Hunter— General Brook— Major General Sheaffe— War of 1812— Governor 
Drummond— Governor Gore— Sir Peregrine Maitland — Sir John Colborne— 
Sir Francis Bond Head— Census of 1851— Our Social State— Nurseries of 
Crime— Police Register— Jail Record— Mendicancy— Oue. City Schools — 
Value as an Investment— Attendance — Average from 1844- to 1857 inclusive- 
Sunday Schools— Expenses of Criminal Justice— Trade Returns— Customs 
Returns— Banking Establishments— Bank of Upper Canada— Commer- 
cial Bank— Bank of British North America— Bank of Montreal— City Bank 
—Bank of Toronto— Quebec Bank— Molson's Bank.— Savings' Banks— 
Home District Savings' Bank— Toronto Savings' Bank— Insurance Offices 
— Building and Investment Societies— Canada Landed Credit Com- 
pany— North- West Transportation Company 69-102 

Section V. EDUCATION.— University of King's College— University of Toronto 
—University College-Upper Canada College-Trinity College-Knox College- 
United Presbyterian Hall— Theological Institute— Rolph's School— Toronto 
School of Medicine— Norm aland Model Schools— Grammar Schools— Gram- 
mar School Inspection — Model Grammar School— District School— Common 
Schools— Council of Public Instruction— Separate Schools— Seminaries for 
Young Ladies 102-135 

Section VI. THE PRESS —Daily Papers— Weekly Papers 135-138 

Section VII. CHARITIES— General Hospital— Lunatic Asylum— House of 
Industry— Lying-in Hospital-Catholic Orphan Asylum-Protestant Orphans' 
Home 138-141 

Section VIII. MUNICIPAL ARRANGEMENTS.— Incorporation of Toronto- 
Liabilities of the City— Public Works and Improvements for 1858— The Police 
Force— The Licensing System— The Fire Brigade— Loss by Fires— Water 
Supply— Toronto Water Works Company— Metropolitan Gas and Water 
Company— Gas Supplv 141-161 

Section IX. RELIGIOUS, NATIONAL, AND FRATERNAL SOCIETIES.— 
Upper Canada Bible Society— Upper Canada Religious Tract and Book So- 
ciety — Toronto City Mission — The City Mission — Anti-Slavery Society — 
Ladies' Colored Fugitive Association — The Elgin Association— Church Society 
St. Andrew's Society— St. George's Society— St. Patrick's Society— Masonic 
Lodges— Loyal Orange Institution— Odd Fellows— Toronto Typographical 
Society 161-176 

Section X. COURTS OF LAW.— List of Benchers— Court of Queen's Bench- 
Court of Common Pleas— Co\irt of Chancery— Court of Error and Appeal- 
County Courts— Insolvent Debtors' Court— Division Court— Court of Quarter 
Sessions— Courts of Probate and Surrogate— Recorder's Court— Heir and 
Devisee Commission— Assizes— LawTerms— Chief Justices, 1791-1857— Puisne" 
Judges, 1791— 1857— List of Attorneys General, 1791— 1858— Legal Holidays- 
Sheriff's Office— Jurors— County of York Registry Office 176-184 

Section XI. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS.— Mechanics' 
Institute— Canadian Institute— Toronto Literary and Debating Society — 
Young Canada Debating Club— Ontario Literary Society— Gould Street 
Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society— British Canadiau Debating 
Society— University College Literary and Scientific Society— Metropolitan 
Choral Society 185-193 

Section XI f. MISCELLANEOUS.— Provincial Agricultural Association— Pro- 
vincial Exhibitions— The Crystal Palace— Bureau of Agriculture— Eoard of 
Arts and Manufactures— Canada Company 193-208 

Section XIII. RAILROADS- Northern— Grand Trunk— Hamilton and To- 
ronto : 

Section XIV. PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCAIIONS-City Hall 
— Gas Works — General Hospital — House of Providence— St Lawrence Hall — 
Post Office— Mechanics' Institute— Masonic Hall— Knox's Church— Normal 
School, &c.&c 

Conclusion.— Arts and Manufactures— Smith, Burke & Co.— Jacques & Hay- 
Thomson, Keith & Co.— Cumming & Wells, &c. 



INDEX. 



Page 

Agricultural Association 194 

Agriculture, Board of 200 

Amphiuma 61 

Antl Slavery Society 167 

Ants 68 

Arts and Manufactures 272 

Assizes 182 

Atlas 137 

Attorneys General 183 

Auk 56 

Auroras 13 

Bank of Upper Canada 237 

Banking Establishments 91 

Barometrical Pressure 12 

Bats 35 

Beaver...., 37 

Beetles 64 

Bees 68 

Belted King Pisher 42 

Benchers 178 

Bible Society 163 

Birds of Prey 37 

Bishop Strachan 109 

Bitterns 54 

Black Bear 36 

BlueBird 47 

Blue Jay 52 

Board of Agriculture 200 

Board of Arts and Manufactures 205 

Bohemian Chatterer 48 

Bond Head, Sir Francis 77 

Bridjre of the Don 230 

British Canadian Debating Society... 192 

British Colonist 136 

Building and Investment Societies ... 97 

Buntings 50 

Bureau of Agriculture 204 

Butterflies 67 

Canadian Institute 187 

Canada Landed Credit Company 100 

Capreol, Mr. P. C 211 

Castle Frank 231 

Cat Bird 48 

Catholic Citizen 137 

Catholic Orphan Asylum 139 

Cedar Bird 48 

Census ol 1851 78 

Charities 138 

Chief J ustices of Upper Canada 190 



Page 

Christian Guardian 136 

Chuck -wills-widow 40 

Church Society 170 

Churches — Adelaide Street — TVes- 

leyan 243 

" Alice Street— New Con- 
nexion 256 

Bay Street— U.P 254 

Cooke's— Free 255 

Gould Street— TJ. P 258 

Holy Trinity... 257 

Knox's 254 

" Richmond Street— Wes- 

leyan 253 

" Second Congregational... 254 

St. Andrews 241 

" Temperance Street — 

Wesleyan 253 

Trinity 229 

City Directory Analysis 79 

City Property, value of 80 

City Hall 225 

City Gas Works 227 

City Mission 166 

Climbers (Birds) 53 

Climate 10 

Climatology 14 

Cockroaches 66 

Coot 54 

Cormorant 56 

County Board of Public Instruction 90 

County Court ; 180 

Courts of Law 176 

Court House 243 

Court of Queen's Bench 179 

Court of Common Pleas 179 

Court of Chancery 179 

Court of Error and Appeal 180 

Court of Quarter Sessions 181 

Court of Probate 1S1 

College Charter 103 

Common Schools 124 

Council of Public Instruction 127 

County Registry Oftice 248 

Creepers (Birds.) 43 

Cricket 67 

Criminal Justice, Expense of 90 

Crossbills 51 

Crow 52 

Crystal Palace 199 

Cuckoo 53 



INDEX. 



Yll 



Page 

Curlew 55 

Customs Returns 90 

District School 122 

Divers 56 

Division Court 181 

Dragon Flies 67 

Drift Clays 15 

Ducks 55 

Eagles 37 

Echo 137 

Editors' and Authors' Association ... 272 

Education 102 

Elgin Association 168 

Examiner 138 

Exchange Office 249 

Fauna ,.... 35 

Finches 50 

Fire Brigade 148 

First Lt.-Governor of U. Canada 70 

Fisher 36 

Fishes 63 

Flora 17 

Flowers 22 

Fly Catchers 43 

Fraternal Societies 161 

Frogs 60 

Frs. Gore, Lt.-Governor 72 



Gallinule 54 

Gas Company's Office 248 

Gas Supply 159 

Geese 55 

General Hospital 138 

General Brock , 73 

General Sheaffe 73 

Geology 15 

Globe 136 

Gnats 69 

Godwit 55 

Gould Street Young Men's M. I. S. ... 191 

Governor Simcoe 70 

Grammar Schools 116 

Grand Trunk Railway 221 

Grasshoppers 67 

Grebe 55 

Ground Hog 37 

Grosbeaks 50 

Grouse 54 

Gulls 55 

Hare 37 

Hawks 38 

Heir and Divisee Commission 182 

Herons 54 

Hospital 232 

House of Industry 139 

House of Providence 234 

Humming Birds 42 

Improvements in 1858 146 

Incorporat ion of Toronto 78 

Indian Summer 10 

Indigo Bird 61 

Insects 64 

Insolvent Debtors Court.'.'.'.'!!'!!!!'.!!'.!!! 181 

Insurance Offices 95 

Invertebrata 63 

Investment Societies 97 



Jail „ 

Jail Records 83 

Jurors 184 

Knox's College 113 

Ladies' Colored Fugitive Association 187 

Larks 45 

Law Society 117 

Law Terms 182 

Leader 137 

Legal Holidays 184 

Lessar Red Poll 49 

Liabilities of the City 143 

Licensing System 147 

Literary Institutions 185 

Literary and Debating Society 190 

Locusts 67 

Lord Sydenham 78 

Loss by fires 149 

Lunatic Asylum 138 

Lying- in-Hospital 139 

Lynx 36 



Mackenzie, ¥m. Lyon 137 

Mammals ; 35 

Masonic Lodges 173 

Masonic Halls 245 

Mayors of Toronto 142 

Mechanics' Institute 185 

Mendicancy 84 

Merganser 56 

Meteorological Registers 14 

Metropolitan Gas and Water Co'y ... 153 

Metropolitan Choral Society 193 

Mink 36 

Mirror 136 

Miscellaneous 194 

Model Grammar School 119 

Moles 36 

Mollusca 69 

Mosquitoes 69 

Moths 67 

Mouse 37 

Municipal Arrangements 141 

National Societies 161 

Natural History 17 

Navigation and Railway Company ... 101 

Necropolis „ 232 

Night Hawk 41 

Normal and Model Schools 115 

Nurseries of Crime 82 

Nuthatch 43 

Odd Fellows 175 

Old Countryman 137 

Ontario, Simcoe, and Huron Railroad 208 

Orange Lodges 174 

Otter 36 

Owls 39 

Painted Finch , 51 

Palace 226 

Perching Birds 40 

P. Hunter, Lieutenant Governor 72 

P. Russel 72 

Pigeons 53 

Pine Marten 36 

Plant Lice 67 

Plovers 54 

Police Force 146 



viii 



I2TDEX. 



Page 

Police Register 83 

Population in 1821 76 

Population in 1854 78 

Porcupine 37 

Post Office 244 

Prairie Dos 37 

Protestant Orphans' Home 139 

Provincial Exhibitions 195 

Provincial Agricultural Association . 194 

Public Buildings 224 

Public Works for 1858 145 

Puisne" Judges 183 

Quail 54 

Race Course 231 

Racoon 36 

Rain and Snow 13 

Rails 54 

Railroads 208 

Rats 37 

Raven 52 

Recorder's Court 182 

RedStart 43 

Religious Societies 161 

Reptiles 57 

River Don 229 

Robin 44 

Rolph's School of Medicine 114 

Ross, Mitchell & Co 251 

Sable Marten 36 

Salamanders 61 

Sandflies 68 

Sand Piper 55 

Savings Bank 237 

Scarlet Tanager 51 

Schools 86 

Scrapers (Birds) 53 

Seminaries for Young Ladies 134 

Separation of Upper from Lower Ca- 
nada 69 

Separate Schools 130 

Sheriff. 184 

Shrike 44 

Shrubs , ,. 20 

Sir P. Maitland 75 

Sir J. Colborne 76 

Sir Francis B. Head 77 

Sir George Arthur 78 

Skunk 36 

Skua 56 

Snakes 58 

Snipes 55 

Snow Birds 49 

Social State 80 

Squirrels 37 

Statistics 69 

Starling 52 

Stilt Birds 54 

Streets 224 

St. Andrew's Society 171 

St. George's Society .., 172 

St. Patrick's Society 172 

St. Andrew's Church 241 

St. James' Cathedral 240 

St. Lawrence Hall 238 

St. Lawrence Foundry 227 



Page 

Stoat 36 

Surrogate Court 181 

Tattler 55 

Temperance Hall 253 

Temperature 11 

Terns 56 

Terrapins 57 

The Press 135 

Theological Institute 114 

Thrushes 44 

Thunder Storms 13 

Titmouse 47 

Toads 61 

Tortoise 57 

Toronto City Mission 166 

Toronto and Hamilton Railroad 223 

Toronto School of Medicine 115 

Trade Returns 90 

Trees 18 

Trinity Church 229 

Trinity College 109 

Tritons 61 

Turnstone 55 

Turnip Ply 65 

Turtles 57 

Typographical Society 176 

United Presbyterian Divinity Hall... 113 

University College 106 

University College Literary and Sci- 
entific Society 192 

University of King's College Charter 105 

University of Toronto 106 

Upper Canada College 107 

Vertebrata 35 

"Warblers 45 

"Warsofl812andl3 93 

Wasps 68 

"Water Lizard 61 

Water-Hen 54 

Water Company 153 

Water Supply 150 

Weasel 36 

Weigh House 226 

Weevil 65 

Whimbrel 55 

Whip-poor-Will 40 

Wilton Crescent 237 

Wind-Mill 228 

Winds 12 

Woif 36 

Wolverine 36 

Woodchuck 37 

Woodpecker 53 

Woodcock 55 

Wrens 46 

Young Canada Debating Club 191 

York Chambers 248 

York, Capital of Upper Canada 71 

York in 1806 72 

York taken in 1813 74 

Zion Chapel 252 



TORONTO. 



Toronto is one of the wealthiest and most important cities in 
British America. It is the capital of Upper Canada, the centre of 
commerce, and the seat of the principal Educational Institutions, and 
is destined from its position to exert a powerful influence on the 
whole affairs of this Colonial Empire. It is beautifully situated, on 
a gently sloping plain on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, 45 
miles K E. of Hamilton, 165 miles W. of Kingston, 340 miles W. S. W. 
of Montreal, and 500 miles 1ST. W. of Washington, the capital of the 
United States. It is in latitude 43° 39' K, longitude 79° 21' W. 
The southern portion of the city is low, but the ground rises gradu- 
ally — almost imperceptibly — from the Bay to upwards of 135 feet 
above the level of Lake Ontario, at Bloor Street, the northern limits 
of the city. The streets are well laid out, crossing each other at 
right angles, and forming, very nearly, a parallelogram. Though 
destitute of the scenic beauty of Montreal, or the picturesque gran- 
deur of Quebec, Toronto has a more southern latitude, and enjoys a 
more genial and salubrious climate, and has many local advantages 
which render it a more desirable place of residence than either of 
these cities, or than any other city in Canada. Its principal public 
buildings are the Legislative Assembly Hall and Legislative Council 
Chamber, with the Government offices, a large pile of plain unpre- 
tending brick ; the Post Oflice ; the Court House ; the St. Lawrence 
Hall and City Hall ; the Exchange ; the Mechanics' Institute ; Os- 
goode Hall, the Seat of the Law Courts ; the University ; Trinity 
College ; the Lunatic Asylum ; the General Hospital, and the House 
of Providence ; besides quite a large number of ecclesiastical edifices 
of more or less pretensions, the localities and general features of 
which will be noticed as we proceed. 



10 TOEOKTO. 



SECTION I.— THE CLIMATE 

Although the temperature of Toronto is colder than the 
normal temperature of this parallel, the climate is remarkably 
pleasant and salubrious, ameliorated no doubt considerably by 
the equalizing influence of the great lake which bounds us on the 
south. The mean temperature of the six months commencing with 
April, and including our warmest summer months, is 4^ degrees 
below the average temperature of the same six months in the same 
parallel of latitude ; while the other six months, in which are in- 
cluded our coldest winter months, are 9^ degrees below the normal 
temperature of the parallel, making an average of 6 degrees colder 
than the normal temperature taking the entire year round. The 
mean temperature as furnished by the Observatory from 1840 to 
1857 inclusive, a period of 18 years, is 44. 07° ; the mean tempera- 
ture of 1857 was 42. 73°. The greatest heat has not exceeded 100° 
in the shade ; the cold has been known to descend as low as 25° 
below zero, but only once (in 1855) in a great many years. It sel- 
dom descends lower than 20° below zero, and then for a very brief 
period. The atmosphere is pure and transparent, free from sultry 
oppressive heat in our warmest summer months, and from raw, 
humid, frigidity in winter. After the hottest days of summer, the 
evening air is fresh and genial, the moon glides through a pure 
cerulean sky with a peculiar brilliancy, from the neighboring woods 
is heard the curious note of the Whip-poor-will, and the fire-ny floats 
through the air making it luminous with its starlit sparks. There 
is nothing, perhaps, which so much strikes a stranger from the foggy 
avenues of London, or the misty lanes of Manchester, on his first 
arrival amongst us, as the purity of our atmosphere ; the deep azme 
of our morning and evening sky, and most of all, the soft silvery 
brilliancy of our moonlight, resembling as it does the fairest speci- 
men of genial twilight of his Island home. 

When it draws towards the end of October, the foliage of the 
shade trees in our streets and avenues and clumps, changes its summer 
hues and assumes the most brilliant colours ; — yellow, red, sapgreen, 
purple, and brown, in varied shades are all sweetly blended, impart- 
ing to our woodland scenery a peculiar charm. The Indian Summer, 
tliat mystic period so sacred to the legends of our country, comes on 
apace. The name " Indian Summer," is given to a few days gener- 
ally about the beginning of November, which are characterized by a 
soft and balmy atmosphere of a peculiarly hazy cast. The curtains 
of nature seem gently drawn that she may enjoy a brief repose. 



THE CLIMATE. 



11 



The finely golden-fringed opal-tinted clouds which surround the sun 
as he sinks below our horizon of a summer night, lose their brilliant 
transparency and are changed by the haze of the atmosphere into a 
dull orange colour. Sometimes they have the appearance of layers 
of strata ranged one above another, and so finely and delicately pen- 
cilled, that but for the rays of the setting sun striking upon them 
through the soft haze, they could not be discerned. This name is, 
however, technically speaking, not used in a meteorological sense. 
There is nothing positive in connexion with the Indian Summer. It 
may occur in some years very markedly, and in others so much less 
so, as scarcely to be appreciable ; and had not the name been estab- 
lished and surrounded with many pleasing fancies by the aborigines, 
the man of science would not have invented such a designation for 
it, as to him its coming and going are alike indefinite. It was 
inappreciable, for example, in 1856. We had, just about the time 
when the Indian Summer may be looked for, a dense fog from the 
19th to the 22nd of October, — not a lurid, tangible, London fog, 
however, although altogether a strange fog for Toronto, — and this fog 
was followed by the kind of weather which is generally expected 
after Indian Summer. Altogether 1856 was a peculiar year. It 
was the coldest, the driest, and the most windy year that we have 
had at least since 1840. Whatever may have been the character of 
Indian Summer in the remote ages when the Great Spirit of the 
Red Man wielded the destinies of his forest home, it does not now 
by any means fulfil the pleasing associations with which tradition 
has so sacredly surrounded it, summed up as it is in five or six 
days at the utmost. It is preceded generally by several days of 
sharp cold weather which makes the transition all the more striking, 
and very often we have our first snow immediately after the haze 
has disappeared. 

Temperature. — The monthly averages of temperature for the 
year 1857 are as follow : — 



Months. 



January 
February 
March . . 
April . . . 
May . . . 
June . , . 



Highest 
Temperature. 



Lowest. 



Mean. 



-20-1 


12-75 


—5-9 


28-53 


— 5'5 


27'82 


5'9 


35 36 


26-0 


4S-S7 


35-0 


56-92 



12 



TOEONTO. 



Months. 



July , 

August . . , 
September 
October. . , 
November 
December , 



Highest 
Temperature. 



D 

86.6 
88-2 
82-0 
64-0 
58-2 
46-0 



Lowest. 





1 
5 

—3-5 
— 4-7 



Mean. 



67-76 
65-31 
58-64 
45-42 
33-54 
31-86 



The maximum 88 '2, minimum —20 -1 : giving a monthly range of 
108 -3. The mean of 1857 was 42 73. 

Barometrical Pressure (corrected to a temperature of 32 
degrees. ) — The variations of the Barometer are frequent, but seldom 
of any great amount. The monthly variations for the year 1857 
are thus represented : — 



Months. 



January . 
February . 
March . . . 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August . . . 
September 
October. . . 
November. 
December. 



Maximum. 



Minimum. 



30 


168 


30 


361 


30 


006 


30 


006 


29 


896 


29 


707 


29 


848 


29 


860 


30 


076 


29 


994 


30 


281 


30 


258 



29-181 
29-152 
29-115 
28-898 
29-199 
28*952 
29-255 
29-155 
29-248 
29-289 
28-452 
28-852 



Monthly 
Range. 



0-987 
1-209 
0-891 
1-108 
0-697 
755 
0-593 
0-705 
0-828 
705 
1-829 
1-406 



Winds. — The direction of the winds appears to be chiefly from the 
West. The resultant dire< 
velocity, are represented as follow : — 



North and West. The resultant direction for 1857, with the mean 



Months. 


Resultant direction. 


Mean 
Velocity. 




N. 70 W. 
S. 78 W. 
N. 63 W, 
N. 60 W. 


10^31 




9-82 


Mai ch 


10-84 


Aptil 


10-24 



THE CLIMATE. 



13 



Months. 



May 

June 

July 

August 
September 
October . . , 
November . 
December . 



Resultant direction. 



Average Resultant . 



K 23 W. 
N. 49 W. 
S. 68 E. 
K 77 W. 
N. 68 W. 
N". 19 W. 
S. 61 W. 
K 89 W. 



N. 74 \Y. 



Mean 
Velocity. 



8-13 
7-60 
4-74 
6 36 



Mean . . 7 99 



Bain and Snow. — The quantity of rain and snow which fell in 
1857, and the number of fair days for the year, are as follow : — 





Rain. 


Snow. 


Fair 


Months. 


Depth of 
inches. 


Days 

during 

which 

rain fell. 


Depth of 
Snow. 


Days of 

Snow. 


Days. 




Inap. 

3-050 

0-335 

1-755 

4-145 

5-060 

3-475 

5-265 

2-640 

1-040 

3-235 

3-205 


3 
11 

4 
10 
15 
21 
15 
13 
11 
10 
14 

7 


21-8 
111 

11-3 
12-9 

0*2 
69 
9 


16 
11 
15 
11 
1 

2 

9 

14 


14 


February 


10 


March 


15 


April 


15 


Mav 


15 




9 




16 




18 


September 

October 


19 

19 


November 


9 


December 


12 


Total 


33-205 


134 


73S 


79 


171 







Thunder Storms, <fec. — The number of thunder storms during 
the year 1857 was 28. There were but few of these remarkable for 
violence. There were, besides, 19 days in which lightning occurred 
without thunder or hail ; 36 days in which thunder occurred without 
lightning or hail ; and 6 days when hail fell unaccompanied by 
thunder or lightning. 

Auroras. — The nights favourable for observing auroras, and the 
cumber of auroras observed, were both considerably fewer than 



14 TOBOFTO. 

during the preceding three years ; but the auroras that were observ- 
ed on the nights of the 7th May and 17th November were far more 
brilliant than any recorded during these three years. The number 
of nights in which it would have been possible to see auroras, had 
such existed, was 189, compared with 233 for the year 1853. On 
26 of these nights aurora was distinctly visible, compared with 57 
for 1853. 

Climatology. — With a view to the prosecution of enquiries rela- 
tive to atmospheric phenomena, our Legislature, in the session of 
1853, very wisely inserted the following clause in the Grammar 
School Act, providing that meteorological registers be kept at all the 
Senior County Grammar Schools in Upper Canada : " And whereas 
it is desirable at all seminaries and places of education to direct 
attention to natural phenomena and to encourage habits of observa- 
tion ; and whereas a better knowledge of the climate and meteoro- 
logy of Canada will be serviceable to agricultural and other pursuits, 
and be of value to scientific enquirers ; — Be it therefore enacted, that 
it shall be part of the duty of the master of every Senior County 
Grammar School to make the requisite observations for keeping, and 
to keep a meteorological Journal, embracing such observations and 
kept according to such form as shall from time to time be directed 
by the Council of Public Instruction, and all such Journals or 
abstracts of them shall be presented annually by the Chief Superin- 
tendent of Education to the Governor General with his Annual 
Report." 

Each of the schools referred to was to be furnished on or before 
the end of September, 1854, with the requisite instruments and books 
and forms, but owing to an unavoidable delay they have only now 
been obtained. The instruments first selected in the United States 
were found to be unsuitable ; and upon consultation with Colonel 
Lefroy, so long and favorably known in connection with Her Majes- 
ty's Magnetical Observatory in Canada, and with whom tins provision 
of the Grammar School Act originated, the Chief Superintendent 
deemed it advisable to have new instruments prepared in England 
expressly for the Department. Improvements, which experience in 
this climate had suggested, were adopted, and a range as low as 
35° and 40° below zero was given to the thermometers. The instru- 
ments here enumerated were all tested by James Glaisher, F. R. S. 
They were also examined and approved by Colonel Lefroy, and in 
addition subjected to a winter's test at the Provincial Magnetical 
Observatory, Toronto. 

One Barometer, cither a standard, or one of a second quality ; a 



GEOLOGY. 15 

Self-registering Maximum Thermometer ; a Self-registering Mini- 
mum Thermometer ; a Wet and Dry Bulb Thermometer ; a Rain 
Guage and Graduated Measuring Glass. Connected with these are 
the following books : A copy of the Official Instructions and Direc- 
tions for Making and Recording Observations ; Daily Register Book, 
containing printed forms, and adapted for the observations of one 
complete year ; Monthly and Annual Abstract Book ; Blank Book for 
extraordinary records ; Map of the Stars, four tables, and synopsis, 
reprinted from the instructions, and mounted for convenient refer- 
ence ; a copy of Drew's Practical Meteorology ; and a copy of 
Coffin's Hygrometrical Tables, bound up with the instructions. 

Professor Kingston, of the Magnetical Observatory, has published 
a small volume of general instructions for making meteorological 
observations, for the use of the Grammar Schools, and has instructed 
in the use of the instruments one of the officers of the Normal School 
department, to whom is entrusted the locating of the observatories and 
the initiation of the masters of the Grammar Schools in their new 
avocation. The schools already supplied are Chatham, London, 
Barrie, Guelph, Niagara, Belleville, Picton, Cornwall, andl'Orignal. 



SECTION II.— GEOLOGY. 

The only natural exposures of solid rock visible near Toronto are 
to be found on the shores of Lake Naff, a mile west of the city, and 
in the deep gullies which the Don and the Humber rivers have ex- 
cavated in their passage to the Lake. The city itself is built upon 
drift clays, which have accumulated upon the flat surface of the rock, 
to an average depth of thirty feet. While the drift clays are of 
comparatively recent origin, the subjacent rock is seen by the numer- 
ous fossil remains which it embodies to belong to the most ancient 
group of known fossiliferous rocks, and may be classed, as the 
uppermost member of the Lower Silurian. The specific name given 
to it by the New York State Geologists, and adopted by the Geolo- 
gical Commission of Canada, is ' ' The Hudson River Group. " This 
rock may be traced far into the State of New York, in an easterly 
direction, and towards Lake Huron, along the north eastern boun- 
dary of the Saugeen Peninsula. In its westerly continuation it 
appears on the Manitoulin Islands, and the northern peninsula of 
the State of Michigan, south of the Sault Ste. Marie River. It thus 
forms a narrow belt, about 30 miles in breadth at Toronto, and nar- 
rowing rapidly in its progress towards the north-west. By compari- 



16 TOEONTO. 

son with the rocks which are found to the east and west of this belt, 
it is found to form an exposed portion of the rim of a vast basin, 
whose opposite or southern boundary is met with in the Southern 
States of the Mississippi Valley. The thickness of this " Group," or 
' ' Loraine Shales" as it is sometimes termed, is about 1, 100 feet, 
with a dip in a southerly direction of about 30 feet in the mile. 
Within the vast basin which it thus forms, he a considerable number 
of other formations in regular Geological succession, the forms they 
display following pretty accurately, with gradually diminishing radii 
— the general circle of exposure exhibited by the Hudson River 
Group. 

The centrical basin or nucleus is composed of the vast coal-fields 
of Appalachia (of which Pennsylvania is part) Illinois, and Michigan, 
which, at a remote epoch, were doubtless united in one uniform 
deposit. Outside, as it were, of the Basin of the Hudson River 
Group may be traced the older formations upon which it reposes. 
These are three in number, called respectively the Utica Slate, the 
Trenton or Kingston Limestone, and the Califerous and Potsdam 
Sandstone. This last named rock reposes immediately upon the 
Gneiss or Laurentian series, and is supposed to have been deposited 
at the bottom of the first sea in which animal life was manifest — at 
least, no older rock is known to preserve the remains of organic life, 
or to exhibit any traces of its presence. The Hudson River Group 
has been quarried in the vicinity of Toronto, and it exhibits a de- 
posit of shale, interstratified with thin bands of calcareous sandstone 
often fit for the purpose of flagging, and these occasionally being 
highly charged with fossils, exhibit the character of limestone, but 
they are of no value for economic purposes. The clays reposing 
upon the solid rock belong to the drift and boulder formation, and 
are of three kinds, buff, blue, and yellow, affording abundance of 
materials for the manufacture of white and red bricks. Fragments 
of trees are not uncommonly met with in the blue clay, which lies 
nearest the surface of the formation rock. It may be here remarked 
that the water held up by the clays is generally of excellent quality, 
though sometimes slightly impregnated with salt ; while the water 
from the foundation rock is not only strongly impregnated with 
saline matter, but is often highly disagreeable from the presence of 
sulphur. In the Report of the Geological Commission of Canada for 
1852-3, the following arrangement in the superposition of the clays 
is given. In a brick field on Mr. ex-Sheriff Jarvis's land, in the 
second concession from the Bay, the descending section pre- 
sented : — 



KATUBAL HIST0B7. 17 

Feet. Inches. 

1. Yellow clay, giving red brick 8 

2. Yellow clay, making cream yellow bricks by mixture ; 

— there are small calcareous concretions in it 1 3 

3. Yellow sand with a thin layer of calcareous material 

at the bottom 9 

4. Yellow clay, giving white brick 1 3 

5. Bluish or ash-colored clay, giving white bricks ; clay 

calcareous 9 

6. Yellow sand 1 3 

7. Ash-coloured clay, burning white 1 6 

8. Yellow sand 9 

9. Ash-coloured clay, burning white. 2 

10. Bluish sand 2 

11. Ash coloured clay, burning white; it has a jointed 

structure, and the thickness is said to be 60 

72 8 
The same authority says : " The bluish or ash-coloured clay fit for 
white bricks is said to have been cut to a depth of between 70 and 
80 feet, in a well in the neighborhood, where it was as well suited 
for the purpose at the bottom as at the top. Boulders are occasion- 
ally found throughout it ; but the number is not great. Pebbles 
and boulders occur in the red brick clay. On its surface it supports 
large gneissoid boulders of a red colour ; and boulders of crystalline 
limestone from the Laurentian series, are met with near Mr. Jarvis's 
house. The bed immediately under the red-brick clay is considered 
too strong for bricks, that is, it holds too little sand. It is sold at 
half-a-dollar a cart load for the manufacturing of common red 
pottery. A circumstance worthy of observation is, that the potter's 
clay, with occasionally a layer of sand, and the red-brick clay above, 
appear to undulate with the general surface, (not, however, descend- 
ing to the bottom of deep ravines,) while the white- brick clay lies in 
very even horizontal strata ; from which it would seem that the one 
must have been worn down into gentle hollows before the other, 
which may be much more recent, was deposited. 



SECTION III.— NATURAL HISTORY. 

The Flora. — So short a time has elapsed since the site of 
the city was the southern boundary of a dense forest, undis- 
turbed by the axe of the woodman, that very little modification 
can possibly have taken place in the indigenous plants of the imme- 



18 TORONTO. 

diate neighborhood. Here and there in the natural succession of 
plants, you may find the majestic maple tree, striking its roots 
through the decayed stump of an old pine, which, having reared its 
head aloft for centimes, at last gave place to the germ of a more 
vigorous rival. This inexorable law is strikingly manif ested in many 
parts of the Province. One entire tract to the east of the city, — 
known as the Pine Ridges, is now covered with a race of hardy 
oaks ; and in many other places where the maple and the beech and 
the elm give indications of a particular character of soil, a little 
investigation will show, in the massive stumps, which here and there 
stand as mementos of the past, that a few generations back the floral 
character of these localities must have been very materially different 
from what it is now. 

Apart from the instinctive preference which some minds have for 
the prosecution of the study of the Flora of the country in which 
they reside, no extraneous cause has operated so happily to turn the 
attention of professional men to this study, as the Annual Provincial 
and Horticultural Exhibitions, which have for several years past 
been held here. We have had at these exhibitions large collections 
of native plants arranged and classified, and also polished specimens 
of the various kinds of wood to be found in our forests. The Tro- 
phy sent to the Paris Exhibition, was perhaps the most complete 
collection of specimens which has yet been made. It was, however, 
a collection from all parts of the province, and consequently con- 
tained many specimens not to be found in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of Toronto. The black walnut, (Juglans nigra), for example, 
a very useful and valuable wood for cabinet making purposes, and 
used extensively in Jacques <fe Hay's establishment, although 
found very plentifully in the western part of the province, is not to be 
met with here. The following trees, the names of which are given 
alphabetically for more easy reference, are to be found in om* imme- 
diate neighborhood, and all indigenous to the soil : 

ARBORES. TREES. 

Abies alba White Spruce. 

" bahamea Balsam Fir. 

" Canadensis Hemlock Spruce. 

Acer dasycarpum White Maple. 

" Pe7insylvanicum Striped Maple. 

" rubrwn Red or Swamp Maple. 

" spicatum Mountain Maple. 

" saccharinum Sugar Maple. 

The Rock Maple, Curled Maple, and Bird's-eye Maple, which are 



NATURAL HISTORY. . 19 

so valuable and highly esteemed for cabinet-making purposes, are 
simply varieties of the Sugar Maple, so varied perhaps by the pecu- 
liarities of the soil into which their roots have struck. 

Alnus serrulaia Common Alder. 

" incana Speckled Alder. 

Betula excelsa Yellow Birch. 

" lenta Black or Cherry Birch. 

" nigra Red Birch. 

" papyracea Paper Birch, — Canoe Birch. 

" populifolia "White Birch. 

Carpinus Americana Blue Beech (Hornbeam.) 

Carya alba Shell-bark Hickory. 

" tomentosa Smooth-bark Hickory. 

Fagus ferrvginea "White Beech. 

Fraxinus Americana "White Ash. 

" sambucifolia Black Ash. 

Juglans cinerea Butternut. 

Juniperus Virginiana Red Cedar. 

Larix Americana Tamarack. 

Liriodendron tulipifera Tulip Tree, — "White Wood. 

Pinus mitis Yellow Pine. 

" resinosa Red Pine. 

" strobus White Pine. 

Platanus Occidentalis Button "Wood. 

Populus Candicans .Balm of Grilead. 

" tremvloides American Aspen. 

" grandidentaia Large toothed Aspen. 

" bal samifera Balsam Poplar. 

' ' monilifera Cotton Wood. 

Prunus Pennsylvania Wild Red Cherry. 

" serotina Wild Black Cherry. 

Quercus alba White Oak. 

" rubra Red Oak. 

Pints typhina Sumac. 

Salix alba White Willow. 

" vitellina Golden Osier. 

" lucida 

" nigra Black Willow. 

c< purpurea 

" viminalis .' Basket Osier. 

" tristis Sage Willow. 

Thuja Occidentalis White Cedar. 

Tilia Americana Bass Wood. 

Ulmus Americana White Elm. 



20 TOltONTO. 

Ulmus fulva Red Elm, — Slippery Elm. 

" racemosa Rock Elm. 

We have native shrubs in great variety, some of them very hand- 
some, and also a great many now so thoroughly naturalized as to be 
considered native. The following list is confined however to the 
indigenous plants in our immediate vicinity : 

FRUTICES. SHRUBS. 

Amelanchier Canadensis Shadbush. 

Amorpha fruticosa Indigo Shrub. 

Ampelopsis quinquefolia Virginian Creeper. 

This luxuriant and ornamental plant flourishes best in a rich moist 
soil, where it spreads with great rapidity, climbing sometimes to the 
height of forty feet, and displaying a beautiful and exuberant foliage. 

Benzoin odoriferum Spice-bush. 

Ceanothus Amerieanus New Jersey Tea Flower. 

Celastrus scandens Wax Work. 

This ornamental shrub sometimes grows to the height of fifteen 
feet. In May it is covered in rich profusion with white flowers, — 
hanging in dense clusters, — and in July and August the branches 
bend under their load of fruit. 

Clematis Virginiana Wild Clematis. 

Comptonia asplen>folia Sweet Fern. 

Comus circinata Round-leaved Cornel or Dog Wood. 

" sericea Silky Cornel. 

" stolonifera Red Osier, — Dog Wood. 

" panicula'a Panicled Cornel. 

" alternifolia Alternate-leaved Cornel. 

Corylits Americana Hazel Nut. 

Crataegus coccinea Scarlet-fruited Thorn. 

u cruegalli Cockspur Thorn. 

" tomentota Black or Pear Thorn. 

Diervilla trifida Bush Honey Suckle. 

Dirca palustris Leather Wood. 

Euonymus Amerieanus Strawberry Bugle, — Burning Bush. 

Humulus lupulus .The Hop. 

Humamelis Virginica Witch Hazel. 

Ilex verticillata Black Alder. 

" levigala Smooth Winterberry. 

Kalmia glaaca Pale Laurel. 

Ledum lali folium Labrador Tea. 

Lonicera hirsuta Hairy Honey Suckle. 

11 ciliata Fly Honey Suckle. 

" parvifiora Small Honey Suckle. 



tfATUEAL HISTOET. 21 

Myria gale Sweet Gale. 

JPrunus Americana Wild Yellow Plum. 

u Virginiana Choke Cherry. 

Pyrus arbutifolia Chokeberry. 

" Americana Mountain Ash. 

Rhodora Canadensis Rhododendron Rhodora. 

Rhus typhina Stag-horn Sumac. 

" toxicodendron Poison Tree. 

Ribes cynosbati Wild or Prickly Gooseberry. 

" Floridum Wild Black Currant, 

" p.rostratrum Fetid Currant. 

Rosa lucida Dwarf Wild Rose. 

" blanda Early Wild Rose. 

" rubiginosa True Sweetbrier, — Eglantine. 

" micrantha Smaller-flower Sweetbrier. 

" Carolina Swamp Rose. 

Rubus Canadensis Bramble. 

«' odoralus Rose-flowering Raspberry — Mulberry. 

" triflorus Dwarf do. 

" strigosxts Wild Red Raspberry. 

" Occidentalis Black Raspberry, — Thimbleberry. 

" villosus High Bramble. 

'■ Canadensis Low Blackberry. 

Sambucus Canadensis Common Eider. 

An infusion of the bruised leaves of this plant is used by gardeners 
to expel insects from vines. The flowers are highly esteemed for 
their medicinal qualities. 

Sambucus pubens Red-berried Elder. 

Sassafras officinale Sassafras. 

Shepherdia Canadensis Wild Oleaster. 

Spirea opulifolia Mnebark Spirea. 

This plant is distinguished for the luxuriance of its showy flowers. 
It is found from Canada to Georgia. 

Spirea tomcntosa Steeple Bush, — Hardback. 

" salicifolia Queen of the Meadow-Meadow Sweet* 

Taxus Canadensis American Yew. 

Viburnum lentago Sweet Viburnum. 

" acerifolium Maple-leaved Viburnum. 

" opidus Cranberry Tree. 

Vitis labrusca Grape Vine. 

" cordifolia Winter or Frost Grape. 

In the April number of the Canadian Journal for 1854, Dr. 
Craigie of Hamilton published a list of indigenous plants collected 



22 TORONTO. 

by himself and his son, Mr. William Craigie, in the neighborhood 
of Hamilton, containing 362 species. This was considered a large 
number at the time, although more recent observation has shown 
that very great additions could be made thereto. At one of our 
Horticultural Shows held during the past year, Mr. John Gray, 
Junr., of the Lake Shore Nursery, exhibited 100 species of native 
plants, nearly all of which were in bloom. These he had collected 
himself in the western vicinity and classified and named, and, as a 
matter of course, took the prize awarded to that special department. 
Professor Hincks, of University College, has, in his scientific 
rambles, collected upwards of 600 species in the immediate vicinity 
of Toronto, embracing all those enumerated by Dr. Craigie, with 
the exception of 15, some of which may yet be found by the Pro- 
fessor in his botanical excursions. It may be that a few of them are 
more particularly indigenous to the neighborhood of Hamilton, a 
point which time alone can determine. Professor Hincks has very 
kindly given me the use of his list for this work in order that the 
Flora may be as complete as present experience will permit. To 
save space, however, I have been obliged to throw it into the alpha- 
betic form, leaving it to the Professor himself, at some future day, 
to issue in systematic order, along with the numerous other plants 
which he has collected in different parts of the Province, as a Class 
Book of Canadian Flora for the use of his students. Those marked 
with an asterisk were exhibited by Mr. Gray, Junr., as already 
referred to. 

FI-ORES. FLOWERS. 

Abulilon avicennce Velvet-leaf. 

Acalypha Virginica Three-seeded Mercury. 

* Achillea millefolium Common Yarrow. 

Actea rubra f Red Baueberry or Cohosh. 

" alba f White do. 

*Adianlum peddum Maiden Hair. 

uElhusa cynap'iu/n Fools' Parsley. 

Agrhnonia Eupatoria Commou Agrimony. 

Agrostemma g'thago Corn Cockle. 

Agrostis alba Bent Grass, 

*Alisma plant.ngo Water Plantain. 

Allium tricoccurn \V ild Garlic. 

" Canaden.se 

Alopecurus protends Meadow Foxtail. 

aristulatns Wild Watei FoxlaiL 

Amaranlhus panic ulat as Red Amaianth. 

t Not noticed by Dr. Gray. 



NATTJEAL HISTOBY. 23 

Amarinthus Eybridus . Green Amaranth. 

" albus White do. 

Ambrosia artemisicefolia. Hog Weed. 

*Ampelopsis quinquefolia Woodbine. 

Amphicarpaui monoica Hog Pea-nut. 

Anacharis Canadensis Water Weed. 

Anagallis arvensis Pimpernel. 

Anemone cylindrica Cylindrical long- fruited Anemone. 

" Virginiana , . .Tall Anemone. 

" Tennsylvanica Pennsylvanian Anemone. 

* " nemorosa The Wood Anemone. 

Anthoxanihum odoratum Sweet-scented Vernal Grass. 

Antennaria Margaretacea Pearly Everlasting. 

pi antagini folio, Plantain-leaved Everlasting. 

*Apios tuber osa Ground Nut. 

*Apocyiucm Androsemifolium Spreading Dogbane. 

" cannabinum Indian Hemp. 

Aphyllon unijlorum One -flowered Cancer-root. 

*Aquilegia Canadensis .Wild Columbine. 

Arabis Canadensis , . Sickle-pod. 

Aralia racemosa Spikenard. 

" hispida Bristly Sarsaparilla. 

* " nudicaulis Wild Sarsaparilla. 

" trifolia Dwax^f Giuseng. 

Arismma triphyllum Indian Turnip. 

Aristida parpurescens Triple Lawn Grass. 

Artemesia Vulgaris Common May wort. 

" Canadensis Canada Wormwood. 

Arrhenatherum avenaceum Oat Grass. 

*Asarum Canadense Wild Ginger. 

*Asclepias comuti Common Silk Weed. 

" phytolaccoides Poke-leaved Silk Weed. 

* " incarnata ....-.- Rose-colored do. 

* " tuberosa Butterfly Weed. 

Aspidium thelypteris Marsh Fern. 

Aspidium spinulosum 

" dditaium 

" marginale 

" acrostichoides 

Aster corymbosus Aster, or Michaelmas Daisy. 

* " macrophyllus Large-leaved Aster. 

* " patens Spreading do. 

" cordifolius Heart-leaved do. 

" dumosus Bushy do. 

" tradescanti 



24 TOEONTO. 

*A ster miser Starved Aster, 

* u simplex Willow-leaved do. 

u tenuifolius Narrow-leaved do. 

" Novce Anglice New England do. 

Athyrium filix femina Lady Fern. 

Barbarea Vulgaris Yellow Rocket. 

" prcecox Early Winter Cress. 

\Bellis perennis Common Daisy. 

Bidens frondosa Common Beggar-ticks. 

" cernua Burr Mariold. 

" chrysanthemoides 

*Blephilia hirsuta Hairy Blephilia. 

* " ciliata Fringed do. 

*Blitum capitatum Strawberry Blite. 

" bonus Henricus Good King Harry. 

Bcehmeria cylindrica False Nettle. 

Botrichium lunarioides Common Moonwort. 

" Virginicum 

Brizia media Quaking Grass. 

Bromus cecalinus Cheat Grass. 

Soft Broom Grass. 



*Calystegia sepium Hedge Bind Weed. 

* " spithamceus Two-flowered do. 

* Calopogon pulchellus Calopogon. 

*Calla palustris Water Arum. 

Callitriche verna Common Starwort. 

*Caltha palustris Marsh Marigold. 

* Campanula rotundifolia Hare Bell. 

" aparinoides Marsh Bell Flower. 

Cannabis sativa Hemp. 

Capsclla bursa pat-iorls Shepherd's Purse. 



a 



arex 



stipata Sedge. 



" stellulata 

" scoparia 

11 straminea 

" plantaginea 

" Inxijlora 

" varia 

" pracox 

' Jiliformis 

" inhemescens 

" ampulacea 

Cardamine rhomboidea Spring Cress. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 25 

Cardamlne hirsuta Bitter Cress. 

*Castilleja coccinea Scarlet-painted Cup. 

Caulophyllum thalictroidcs Blue Cohosh. 

Centaur ea cyanus Blue Bottle. 

Ceraslium vulgatum Mouse-ear Chick-weed. 

" viscosum Larger do. 

" arvense Field do. 

Ceratophyllum demersum Horn-wort. 

Chelidonium majus Greater Celandine. 

*Chelone glabra Snake-head. 

* Chenop odium urbicum Goose-foot. 

" album "White goose-foot — Lamb's quarters. 

" botrys Jerusalem Oak. 

Chimaphila umbellata Prince's Pine. 

" maculata Spotted Winter-green. 

Chiogenes hispidula Creeping Snowberry. 

Chrysosplenium Americanum Golden Saxifrage. 

Cicuta maculata Spotted Cowbane, Water hemlock. 

" bulbifera Bulb-bearing Co wban.e. 

Cichorium intybus Chicory. 

* Cimicifuga racemosa Black Snake-root. 

Circoza lutetiana Enchanter's Nightshade. 

" alpina Mountain Nightshade. 

Cirsium lanceolatum Common Thistle. 

discolor Tall Thistle. 

" arvense Canada Thistle. 

Claytonia Virginica Spring Beauty. 

" Caroliniana Caroline Spring Beauty. 

* Clematis Virginiana Virgin's Bower. 

Clintonia borealis, Clintonia. * 

* Colllnsonia Canadensis Horse Balm. 

Comandra umbellata Bastard Toad-flax. 

Conioselinum Canadense Hemlock Parsley. 

Conium macidatum Poison Hemlock. 

f Coptis trifolia Gold Thread. 

Corallorhiza multijlora Coral Boot. 

Coriandrum sativum Coriander. 

Coreopsis verticillata Tick-seed Sunflower. 

*Comus Canadensis Dwarf Cornel. 

Cryptotcenia Canadensis Hone- wort. 

Cynoglossum officinale Hound's Tongue. 

" Morisoni Virginian Mouse-Ear. 

Cyperus diandrus Gallingale. 

" strigosus Brittle-spiked Gallingale. 

* Cypr'pedium pubescens Larger yellow Ladies' slipper. 

c 



26 TOBOSTC. 

* Cypripedium speHabile Showy Ladies' slipper. 

* " parviflorum Smaller yellow do. 

Cystea bulbifera Bulb-beariug Bladder Fern. 

" fragilis Common do. 

Dactylis glomerata Orchard Grass. 

Datura stramonium Thorn Apple. 

*I)asy stoma puscebens Downy Dasystoma. 

Dentaria diphylla Pepper-root — Tooth wort. 

Desmodium nudiflorum c Naked flowered Tick Trefoil. 

" acuminatum Spiked do. 

" Canadense Canadian do. 

" cuspidatum Smooth tick do. 

Dicentra Canadensis Squirrel Corn. 

Dicksonia pilosiuscula Fine-haired Mountain Fern. 

Drosera rotundifolia Sun-dew. 

DuNchium spathaceum 

Echinospermum lappula Stick-seed — Burr-seed. 

Eleocharis obtusa Spike Rush. 

" palustris «.,... .Marsh Club Rush. 

" acicularis Hair Club Bush. 

Elodea Virginica Marsh St. John's wort. 

Elymus Canadensis "Wild Rye. 

*Epilobium angustifolium Great Willow-herb — Rose-bay. 

palustre Marsh Willow-herb. 

color atum Dingy Willow-herb. 

*Equiselum arvense Common Horse-tail. 

pratense Shady do. 

sylvaticum Wood do. 

limosum . . Water do. 

palustre Marsh do. 

hyemale Scouring Rush. 

" scirpoides 

*Epigwa repens . . Ground Laurel. 

This was the first flower seen by the Pilgrim Fathers when they 
landed in New England, and they called it the May Flower, after 
the ship which had brought them to the land of liberty. 

Epiphegus Virginiana Beech Drops. 

Erechtites hieracifolius Fire-Veed. 

* Erlophorum polystachyon Common Cotton Grass. 

*Erigeron Canadense Butter Wood. 

* " bellidifolium Robin's Plantain. 

" Philadelphicum Flea-bane. 



NATURAL HISTOET. 27 

Erigeron strigosum Daisy Flea-bane. 

Erysimum cheiranlhoides ."Worm-seed — Mustard. 

Erythronium Americanum Yellow Adder's-tongue. 

* Eupatorium purpureum Trumpet-weed. 

* " perfoliatum Boneset. 

* " ageratoides "White Snake-root. 

Euphorbia peplus. Petty Spurge. 

•' polygonifolia Shore do. 

u maculata Spotted do. 

" hypericifolia Larger do. 

u helioscopia Sun do. 

" obtusata Obtuse-leaved do. 

Eagopyrum esculentum Buckwheat. 

Festuca ovina Sheep 's Fescue Grass. 

u elatior Tall Meadow Grass. 

Fragaria Virginiana American Strawberry. 

" vesca Common Strawberry. 

Fumaria officinalis Common Fumitory. 

Galium aparine Goose Grass. 

" asprellum Rough Bed Straw. 

" trijlorum Sweet-scented Bed Straw. 

" triiidum Small Bed Straw. 



" circozzans Wild Liquorice. 

" lanceolatum Lance-leaved do. 

* " boreale Northern do. 

Galeopsis tetrahit Common Hemp Nettle. 

* Gaultheria procumbens Aromatic Wintergreen. 

Gaylussacia resinosa Black Huckleberry. 

Geranium maculatum "Wild Crane's Bill. 

* " Carolinianum Carolina Crane's Bill. 

pusillum Small-flowered Crane's Bill. 

Robertianum .Herb Robert. 

*Gentiana crinita , Blue Fringed Gentian. 

11 Andrewsii Soapwort or Closed Gentian. 

" quinqueflora Five-flowered Gentian. 

*Gerardia tenuifolia „ . .Slender Gerardia. 

" flava Downy False Fox-glove. 

" quereifolia Smooth False Fox-glove. 

* " pedicularia 

Geum album "White Avens. 

* " strictum Yellow or Upright Avens. 

" rivale Water Avens. 

Glyceria Canadensis Rattlesnake Grass. 

" aquatica , "Water Manna Grass. 



28 NATTTBAL HISTORY. 

Olyceria Jluitans Floating Manna Grass. 

* Gnaphalium polycephalum Fragrant Life Everlasting. 

* " uliginosum Low Cudweed. 

* Goody era repens Rattlesnake Plantain. 

* Gymnosticum hysirix Bottle-brush Grass. 

Helianthemum Canadense Frost Plant — Rock Rose. 

Helianthus divaricatus Wild Sunflower. 

" decapetalus Ten-rayed Sunflower. 

" trachelifolius " " 

Heliopsis Icevis Ox-eye. 

Heracleum lanatum Cow Parsnip. 

*Hepatica triloba Round-lobed Hepatica. 

* " acutiloba Sharp-lobed do. 

Hieracium Canadense Canadian Hawk weed. 

" scabrum Rough do. 

" Gronovii Hairy do. 

" paniculatum Slender do. 

Hierochloa Borealis Seneca Grass. 

Hippuris vulgaris Mare's Tail. 

Holcus lanatus Meadow Soft Grass. 

Hydrophyllum Virginicum Virginian Water-leaf. 

" Canadense Canadian do. 

Hydrocotyle Americana Marsh Penny Wort. 

Hyoscy amies niger Black Henbane. 

* Hypericum perforatum St. John's Wort. 

* " Canadense Canadian do. 

Ilysanthus gratioloides False Pimpernel. 

*Impatiens pallida Pale Touch-me-not. 

* " fitlva ... . Spotted do. — Jewel-weed. 

Inula Helenium Elecampane. 

*Iris versicolor Variegated Iris — Blue Flag. 

" Virginica Slender Blue Flag. 

Juncus effusus Soft Rush— Bulrush, 

" tenuis Slender Rush. 

" bufonius Toad Rush. 

Lactuca elongata Wild Lettuce. 

Lamium amplexicaule Dead Nettle. 

Lampsana communis Nipple Wort. 

Lappa major Burdock. 

Lemna trisulca Ivy-leaved Duck-meat. 

" minor Lesser do. 

" polyrhiza Many-leaved Duck Weed. 



KATTJKAL HISTOEY. 29 

Lathyrus maritimus Beach Pea. 

Luciola pilosa Hairy Wood Rush. 

" campestris Common do. 

Zeontodon autumnalis Fall Dandelion— Hawkweed, 

Leonurus cardiaca Common Mother Wort. 

Lepidium Virginicum Wild Pepper Grass. 

Leucanthemum vulgar e Ox-eye Daisy. 

Lespedeza hirta Bush Clover. 

*Liatris cylindrica Button Snake Root. 

Lilium Philadelphicum Wild Orange Lily. 

* " Canadense Yellow Lily. 

* " super bum Turk's Cap Lily. 

Xinncea borealis .Twin-flower. 

Linum usitatissimum Common Flax. 

Lithospermum arvense Corn Gromwell — Wheat Thief. 

* Lobelia cardinalis Cardinal Flower, 

* " sylphilitica Blue Cardinal Flower. 



* 



in 



iflata Indian Tobacco. 



" spicata Spiked Lobelia. 

* Lupinus perennis Wild Lupine. 

*Zycopodium lucidulum Shining Club Moss. 

" dendroideum Ground Pine — Tree Club Moss. 

* u clavatum Common Club Moss. 

* " complanatum Seven-leaved Club Moss. 

Lycopus Virginicus Bugle Weed. 

" Europams Water Hoarhound. 

*Lysimachia stricta Upright Lysimachia. 

" quadrifolia Four-leaved Loose-strife. 

* " ciliata Heart-leaved Loose-strife. 

Malva rotundifolia Common Marsh Mallow. 

Maruta cotula May-weed. 

Medicago lupulina None-such. 

*Medeola Virginica Indian Cucumber Root. 

Melampyrum Americanum American Cow-wheat. 

Melilotus alba Sweet-scented Clover. 

Menispermum Canadense Canadian Moon Seed. 

Mentha viridis Spear Mint. 

* " Canadensis Common Mint. 

Menyanthes trifoliata .Buck Bean. 

Milium effusum Millet Grass. 

*Mimulus ringens Monkey Flower. 

*Mitchella repcns Partridge Berry, 

Mitella diphylla Two-leaved Mitre Wort. 

" nuda Dwarf do. 



30 TOBOtfTO. 

*Monarda didyma Oswego Tea. 

11 fistidosa Wild Bergamot, 

*Moneses uniflora One-flowered Pyrola. 

* Monoiropa uniflora Indian Pipe. 

Myosotis palustris Forget-me-not. 

" arvensis Scorpion Grass. 

Myriophyllum spicatum Water Milfoil. 

Nabalus alius „ Rattlesnake Root. 

" altissimus Tall White Lettuce* 

" Fraseri Eraser's Nabulus. 

Nasturtium officinale Water Cress. 

" palustre Marsh Cress. 

*Naumburgia thyrsiflora Tufted Loose-strife. 

Nepeta cataria , .Catmint — Catnip. 

Nescea verticillata Swamp Loose-strife. 

Nicandra physaloides Apple of Peru. 

*Nupliar advena Yellow Pond Lily. 

'*Nymphcea odorata Sweet-scented Water Lily. 

* Oenothera biennis ...» .Common Evening Primrose^ 

* " fruticosa . . . Perennial Evening Primrose, 

Oldenlandia ciliolata Rluets r or Clustered Pink 

Onoclea sensibilis Sensitive Fern. 

Onopordon acanthium Scotch Thistle. 

* Orohis spectabilis Showy Orchis. 

Oryszopsis asperifolia Common Mountain Rice. 

Osmorhiza longistylis Smooth Sweet Cicely. 

" brevistylis Hairy do. 

*Osmunda regalis . Royal Flowering Fern. 

" Claytoniana 

" cinnamomea Cinnamon-coloured Fern. 

Oxa/is Acetosella Common Wood Sorrel. 

* " stricta Yellow Wood Sorrel. 

* Oxycoccus macrocarpus Larger Cranberry. 

Panicum sanguinale Crab Grass. 

" capillar e Prairie Grass. 

" latifolium " 

" clandestinum " 

" crusgalli , Barnyard do. 

*Papaver rhceas Common Poppy. 

" dubium Smooth-fruited Poppy, 

" somniferum Opium Poppy. 

Fastinaca sativa Wild Parsnip. 



MATTTBAL HISTORY. 31 

Fedieularis Canadensis Common Louse-wort. 

*Pentstemon pubescens Beard-tongue. 

Penthorum sedoides Ditch Stone Crop. 

Phalaris arundinacca Reed Grass. 

" Canadensis Canary Grass. 

Phleum pratense .Timothy Grass. 

* Phlox divaricata Early Phlox. 

Phryma leptostachya Lop Seed. 

Physostegia Virginiana False Dragon-head. 

Physalis viscosa Ground Cherry. 

Plantago major Greater Common Plantain. 

" lanceolata Ribwort Plantain. 

" Virginica Virginian or Lesser Plantain. 

*Platanthera orbiculata Large Round-leaved Orchis. 

* " Hookeriana Small two-leaved do. 

* " bracteata Bracteated Green Orchis. 

hyperborea Green Orchis. 

* " obtusata Dwarf Orchis. 

Poa annua Low, or Annual Spear Grass. 

" pratensis Meadow Grass. 

" compressa Blue Grass. 

* Podophyllum peltaticm May Apple — Wild Mandrake. 

*Pogonia ophioglossoides Arethusa . 

*Polygala senega Seneca Snakeroot. 

* " paucifolia Fringed Polygala. 

11 polygama Bitter do. 

*Polygonatum bijlorum Smaller Solomon's Seal. [ther. 

Polygonum Orientate Oriental Knot Grass — Prince's Fea- 

" amphibium Water Knot Weed. 

" nodosum Nut Grass. 

" Pennsylvanicum Pennsylvanian Parsicaria. 

hydropiper Smart Weed — Water Pepper. 

" persicaria Lady's Thumb. 

" aviculare Goose Grass. 

" convolvulus Black Bind Weed. 

Polanisia graveolens Honey-scented Polanisia. 

*Pontederia cor data , Piekerel-weed. 

Portulaca oleracea Purslane. 

*Potamogeton natans. Broad-leaved Pond-weed. 

Potentilla Norvegica Norwegian Cinquefoil. 

Canadensis Canadian do. 

" anserina Silver-weed. 

u palustris Marsh Cinquefoil. 

Proserpinaca palustris Mermaid-weed. 

*Prunella vulgaris Self-heal. 



32 TOEONTO. 

Pteris aquilina Common Brake. 

Pterospora Andromedea Albany Beech-drops. 

*Pyrola rotundifolia Round-leaved Winter-green. 

* " elliptica Pear-leaved Winter-green. 

" chlorantka Small Pvrola. 

* " secunda One-sided Pyrola. 

Ranunculus aquatilis White Water Crowfoot. 

" Flammula Spear-wort. 

abortivas Round-leaved Crowfoot. 

* " sceleratus Celery Crowfoot. 

' ' recurvatus Hooked Crowfoot. 

tl Pennsylvanicus Bristly Crowfoot. 

" fascicularis . . . Early Crowfoot. 

* " reptans Creeping Crowfoot. 

" bulbosus Bulbous Crowfoot. 

" acris Butter-cups, Tall Crowfoot. 

Raphanus Raphanistrum Wild Radish. 

*Rudbec~kia laciniata Cone-flower. 

* " hirta Rough Cone-flower. 

Rumex crispus Curled Dock. 

" aquations Great Water Dock. 

" acetosella Sheep Sorrel. 

f " acetosa Common Sorrel. 

*Sagittaria variabilis . , Arrow-head. 

Samolus Valerandi Water Pimpernel. 

Sanicula Canadensis Canadian Sanicle. 

" Marilandica Maryland do. 

Sanguisorba Canadensis Canadian Burnet. 

*Sanguinaria Canadensis Blood-Root. 

* Saponaria officinalis Common Soap-wort. 

*Sorracenia purpurea Side-saddle Flower. 

Saxifraga Virginiensis Early Saxifrage. 

Scirpus lacustris Lake Bulrush. 

" eriophorum Wool Grass. 

" sylvaticus Wood Rush. 

Scleranthus annuus Common Knawel. 

Silene woctiflora Wight-flowering Catch-fly. 

Sisymbrium officinale Hedge Mustard. 

Sinapis alba White Mustard. 

" arvensis Field Mustard. 

Sium linear e Water Parsnip, 

Schollera graminea Water Star Grass.. 

Scrophularia nodosa Fly-wortj 



NATURAL HISTORY. 33 



^Scutellaria galericulala Common Scull-cap. 

" lateriflora Mad-dog Scull-cap. 

" parvula Small Scull-cap. 

Senecio vulgaris Common Groundsel. 

Setaria glauca Foxtail Grass. 

" viridis Green do. 

" Italica Millet Grass. 

* Sisyrinchium Bermudiana Blue-eyed Grass. 

*Smitax herlacea Carrion Flower. 

Smilacina racemosa False Spikenard. 

" stellata Star flowered do. 

" trifolia Three-leaved do. 

Solanum Dulcamara Woody Night-shade. 

Solidago squarrosa Golden-rod. 

u bicolor Two coloured do. 

" latifolia 

" cwsia Blue-stemmed do. 

" nemoralis Field Aster. 

" altissima Tall Golden-rod. 

* " Canadensis Canadian do. 



* " lanceolata Grass-leaved Golden-rod, 

* " serotina Smooth Golden-rod. 

Sonchus oleraceus Common Sow Thistle. 

" asper Spring-leaved do. 

Sparganium ramosum Burr Reed. 

*Spiranthes cernua Nodding Ladies' Tresses. 

Stellaria media Common Chickweed. 

" longifolia Stitch-wort. 

" uliginosa Swamp Stitch-wort. 

Streptopus roseus Twisted Stock. 

Struthiopteris Germanica Ostrich Fern. 

Symphytum officinale Comfrey. 

Symplocarpus fcetidus Skunk Cabbage. 

Tanacetum vulgar e Common Tansey. 

Taraxacum Dens-leonis Common Dandelion. 

*Teucrium Canadense Wild Germander. 

liarella cordifolia False Mitre-wort. 

Thaspium aureum Meadow Parsnip. 

*Thalictrum dioicum Early Meadow Rue. 

cornuti Large Meadow Rue. 

Phragmitis communis Reed Grass. 

Trientalis Americana Star Flower. 

Trifolium arvense , , »....., Hare's-foot Trefoil. 



34 TOEOSTO. 

Trifolium pratense Red Clover. 

" repens White do. 

" agrarium Hop do. 

11 procumbens Yellow Clover. 

* Trillium cernuum Nodding Trillium. 

* " erectum Purple do. 

* " grandifiorum Large White do. 

Triticum repens Couch Grass. 

Triosteum perfoliatum Horse Gentian. 

Typha latifolia Common Cat-tail. 

" angusiifolia Narrow-leaved do. 

Urtica gracilis Tall Wild-nettle. 

" urens Small Stinging nettle. 

Utricularia Vulgaris Common Bladder-wort. 

Uvularia grandiflora Large-flowered Bell- wort. 

" perfoliata Smaller Bell- wort. 

Vaccinium vitisidcea Common Cowberry. 

* " Canadense Canadian Blueberry. 

Verbascum thapsus Common Mullein. 

* Verbena hastata , , . .Blue Vervain. 

" anticifolia Nettle-leaved do. 

Veronica Anagallis Water Speedwell. 

* " Americana American Brooklime. 

" scutellata Marsh Speedwell. 

" officinalis Common Speedwell. 

" serpyllifolia Thyme-leaved Speedwell. 

" peregrina Purslane Speedwell. 

" agrestis Field Speedwell. 

" Buxbaumii 

Vicia Caroliniana Carolina Vetch. 

1 ' Americana American do. 

* " cracca. Tufted Vetch. 

* Viola blanda Sweet White Violet. 

" palustris Marsh Violet. 

" cucullata Common Blue Violet. 

" rostrata Long-speared do. 

" Muhlenbergii American Dog Violet. 

* " Canadensis Canadian Violet. 

" pitbescens Downy Yellow Violet. 

" tricolor Pansey or Heart' s-ease. 

* " striata Pale Violet. 

* " lanceolata Lauced-leaved Violet. 

Xanthium Strumarium Cockle-burr. 



NATTJEAL HISTOEY. 85 

Zizania aquatica .Indian Rice. 

Zizia integer rima Entire-leaved Zizia. 

The Fauna. — The Fauna of the neighborhood has no doubt 
been considerably modified by the progress of civilization, or at 
least by the clearing of the forest. The Wolf and the Bear, and 
other large animals so frequently met with by the early settler, are 
now seldom seen except by the lumberman, whose store of bacon 
lures them to his hut. Now and again, indeed, one or other of 
these ferocious animals, impelled by hunger, or allured by the scent 
of prey, strays beyond the line marked by civilization, and finds, 
when too late, that it has wandered too near the haunts of its 
relentless enemy, man. Of several of the orders of mammals, we 
have no representatives here. 

YERTEBRATA. 

Class 1. Mammals. — Cuvier divides this class into nine orders. 
Of the first and second Bimana (man) and Quadrumana (monkeys) 
we have nothing to say. 

Order III. Camivora (Flesheaters). 
The New York Bat Vespertilio N'oveboracensis. 

This bat is from three to four inches in length, with a spread of 
wing of from ten to twelve inches. In the winter of 1854, Mr. 
Couper, Entomologist, found one of these bats asleep one forenoon 
suspended by the feet from the branch of a tree in the Homewood 
Estate. He stuffed it and sent it to the celebrated Naturalist, 
L. Agassiz, to whom it was of the utmost importance, for it enabled 
him to correct an error into which he had fallen in regard to the 
geographical range of this species. He had set it down as ranging 
no farther north than the Middle States ; yet here it was apparently 
at home, a little north of Carlton Street. DeKay, in his valuable 
Natural History of New York, seems to have fallen into a similar 
error, for he says that tins species extends only to the 42nd parallel, 
and from Massachusetts to the Rocky Mountains. 

The Hoary Bat Vespertilio pruinosus. 

This is the largest species of bat in America. There are altogether 
discovered upwards of 150 species distributed over the globe, only 
five of which seemingly belong to our share. The Hoary Bat is four 
and a-half inches in length, with a spread of 15 niches. 

Little Brown Bat Vespertilio subulatus. 

Silver-ha ; red Bat , " noctivagans. 



36 TOEONTO. 

DeKay says the history of this bat is incomplete. He, however, 
restricts its northern range to the same parallel as the New York 
Bat, which is evidently an error ; for although we have no specimen 
of it, so far as I know, in any collection in the City, it has been seen 
performing its nocturnal evolutions along the margin of the bay. 

Carolina Bat Vespertilio Carolinensis. 

Shrew Mole Scalops Canadensis. 

This animal resembles the European species both in form and habits. 

*Stamose Mole , Condylura cristata. 

*Black Bear Ursus Americamts. 

The fur of this animal was formerly much sought after as an 
article of commerce. In 1783, ten thousand five hundred bear skins 
were imported into England from the northern parts of America, 
and the number gradually increased until 1803, when it reached 
twenty-five thousand, — the average value of each skin being estimated 
at forty shillings sterling. Richardson says it inhabits every wooded 
district of the American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
and from Carolina to the shores of the Arctic sea. 

*Racoon t Procyon lotor 

This animal is nocturnal in its habits, sleeping during the day and 
prowling at night in search of food. It is very partial to shellfish. 

"Wolverine Gulo luscus. 

*Skunk Mephitis varians. 

This little animal,— -the synonyme for all that is offensive, — preys 
on the smaller animals, rats, mice, &c. 

*Common Weasel Mustela putorius. 

* Ermine or Stoat " erminea. 

*Nurek Yison or Mink Vison lutreola. 

*Brown Weasel Mustela fuscus. 

Pine Marten " tnartes. 

Pekan or Fisher " Canadensis. 

Sable Marten " eucopus. 

Canada Otter Lutra Canadensis. 

*G-rey Wolf Canis Lupus. 

* American Red Fox Vulpes Fulvus. 

* Black or Silver Fox " argentatus. 

*Canada Lynx Felis Canadensis. 

* Specimens of those so marked have been obtained in the immediate vicinity of 
Toronto. 



NATTTBAL HISTORY. 37 

Order IV. Marsupialia (Pouched animals). 

♦Virginian Opossum Didelphis Virginiana. 

This is the only representative we have of this order. 

Order V. Rodentia (Gnawing animals). 

*Black Squirrel Sciurus niger. 

*Louisiana Black Squirrel " Auduboni. 

*Grey Squirrel " Carolinensis, 

* Rocky Mountain Flying Squirrel . . . Pteromys alpimts. 
*Ground Squirrel Tamia striata. 

* Prairie Dog, Arctomys Ludovicianus. 

*Ground Hog or Woodchuck „ . " monax. 

This is the Maryland marmot, known more commonly here as the 
Ground Hog or Woodchuck. It feeds on garden vegetables, and is 
particularly fond of young corn, which it devours with avidity. 

♦Common Mouse Mus musculus. 

*Common Rat " decmnanus. 

*Musquash Fiber zibethicus. 

*Beaver Castor fiber. 

*Canada Porcupine Ereihizon dorsatum. 

*American Hare Lepus Americanus. 

There are no representatives of the sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth 
orders in our vicinity. 

Class II. Aves. Order I. Accipitres or Raptor es (Birds of prey). 

In the study of this interesting branch of Natural History, the 
raptorial birds are the first to claim attention. By virtue of their 
great muscular strength, and the daring and ferocity by which they 
are distinguished, they are the terror of the feathered race. Al- 
though, for the most part, destitute of that brilliancy of plumage 
which is so attractive in many of the Insessorial birds ; they have 
many characteristic features, which even the casual observer cannot 
but admire. This order contains two families, Accipitres Diurni 
and Accipitres Noctumi, — the former being again divided by 
Linnaeus into two tribes — the Vultures and Falcons. 

Family I. — Diurnal Birds of prey. 
Tribe 1st. — Vulturidce. 
There is none of the Vulture tribe in our immediate neighborhood. 
Tribe 2nd. — Falconidce. 

Golden Eagle .Falco chryscetos. 

* White-headed or Bald Eagle ...... " leucocephalus. 



38 TORONTO. 

Ring-Tailed Eagle Falco fulvus, 

*Sea, or Black Eagle " ossifragus. 

*Eish Hawk or Osprey " halicetus. 

This bird, as its name implies, subsists entirely on fish, and is one 
of the most vigorous and industrious of the tribe. It is migratory, 
— arriving in the neighborhood of Toronto in the Spring, and leaving 
in the Fall, — and is considered by the fishermen, on its appearance 
in Spring, as a sure harbinger of the approach of the vast shoals of 
the finny tribes by which our coast is visited. They were very 
numerous at the Island last spring. 

*Gyr Falcon Falco Islandicus. 

*Great-footed Hawk " peregrinus. 

* Pigeon Hawk " columbarius. 

*Sparrow Hawk " sparverius. 

This is one of the most diminutive of our birds of prey, although 
very sanguinary, being known to attack and devour birds nearly as 
large as itself. The female is considerably larger than the male, as 
is the case with all Raptorial birds. 

} 

*Ash colored or Black-capped Hawk . " atricapillus. 

* Black Hawk .,« " Sancti Johannis. 

* Red- shouldered, or "Winter Hawk . . " lineatus. 

* Rough-legged Hawk " lagopus. 

*Red-tailed Hawk " borealis. 

*Marsh Hawk or Common Harrier . . " uliginosus. 

This bird, like the owl, preys on mice as well as on small birds. 
Wilson states that they are common in New Jersey, and are known 
by the name of the mouse-hawk ; they are also plentiful in the 
Southern States, and are useful to the planters in keeping down the 
"Rice Birds," so destructive to their rice fields. It is the most 
numerous bird of the order. 

*Skarp-shinned Hawk Falco fuscus. 

*Slate-colored Hawk u Pennsylvanicus. 

Family II. — Nocturnal Birds of prey. 

There is a striking resemblance between all the members of this 
family. They have very large heads and short necks. Their eyes 
being large and prominent, are well fitted for seeing at night, an" 
consequently ill adapted to stand the glare of the noonday sun, — 



*American Buzzard, or White- , 

breasted Hawk. *" Falc0 ^^anus. 



FATTJKAL HISTOET. 39 

although some of them do hunt during the day. Their plumage is 
so delicately soft, that they are enabled to approach their victim 
without the least rustling or noise, and they are consequently more 
successful in their nocturnal depredations, where a stealthy silence is 
indispensable. The beak and talons are curved and strong, and, 
judging from the large size and peculiar construction of their 
external ear, their sense of hearing must be very acute. 

*Hawk Owl Strix funerea. 

This bird forms a kind of connecting link between the Hawks and 
Owls. It is migratory, arriving in the Fall. Like the Snowy Owl, 
it hunts by day as well as by night. It is an inhabitant of both 
continents. 

*Great Cinereous Owl .Strix cinerea. 

Although the habitation of this bird is in Northern North America, 
north of 42 ° , yet during the past winter several very fine specimens 
have been obtained in our neighborhood. This is the largest known 
species of the owl which inhabits North America, and is restricted on 
the Atlantic to the Northern States. In Western America its range 
is not known, but it was brought from Oregon by Dr. Townsend, 
Dr. Hall says it breeds in the vicinity of Montreal. 

Snowy Owl Strix nyctea. 

This is a majestic and most beautiful bird, well deserving the 
name " King of Owls," or " Snowy Eagle. " It arrives here at the 
commencement of our cold weather, and many of them are annually 
shot on the peninsula. It is well fitted to stand the severity of a 
cold climate, being so closely covered with soft and warm plumage 
that not a single point is left exposed. It hunts by day as well as by 
night, and is admirably adapted to that purpose. Its powerful and 
noiseless flight, aided by the fleecy whiteness of its plumage, enables 
it, as it skims over snow-clad plains, to approach its victim unseen 
and unheard. It feeds on mice and birds, and is particularly fond 
of fish. The female is darker in plumage than the male, and seldom 
if ever assumes the same snowy whiteness. 

♦Barred Owl Strix nebulosa. 

*Long-eared Owl " Wilsoni. 

*Short-eared Owl " brachyotus. 

*Great Horned Owl " Virginiana. 

This bird is very rare in our neighborhood, although common in 
every part of the Western States, where it remains throughout the 



40 TOKONTO. 

year. There is a feeling of superstitious clread associated in the 
minds of many persons in reference to this bird. Its harsh and dis- 
cordant voice resounding through the gloomy forest, or the desolate 
ruin where it makes its abode, is regarded as a supernatural omen ; 
a feeling not much diminished by approaching the bird itself ; for 
the large goggling and immoveable eye, the loud snapping of the 
bill, and the grotesque contortions of the neck and body, rather 
increase the displeasing effect. 

Mottled Owl Strix asio. 

♦Little Owl " Acadica. 

This pretty little bird is one of the smallest of the nocturnal birds 
of prey. When disturbed during the day-time, it flies but a short 
distance ere it is overpowered with the dazzling light, and becomes 
so stupid that it may be taken by the hand without much effort. 
Several of them have been caught in Spadina Avenue. 

Order II. Passeresor Insessores, (Perching Birds.) 

This order is the most numerous of the entire class, comprehend- 
ing all those birds which live habitually among trees, with the ex- 
ception of the birds of prey, and the climbing birds. Their regimen 
is not fixed like that of the Gallinaceous birds or the Water Fowl. 
It consists chiefly of insects, fruits, and grain, being more or less 
granivorous in proportion to the thickness of the bill, and more or 
less insectivorous as the bill becomes attenuated. The order is sub- 
divided into four families : 

Family 1. Fissirostres Cleft beaked. 

" 2. Tenuirostres Slender beaked. 

" 3. Dentirostres Tooth beaked. 

" 4. Conirostres Cone beaked. 

Family I. Fissirostres. 

Chuck "Will's Widow Caprimulgus Carolinensis. 

* Whip-poor Will " vociferus. 

This species is frequently coufounded with the Night Hawk, al- 
though very different in habits as well as appearance. It arrives in 
our neighborhood in early spring. It is a solitary bird, being usu- 
ally found alone, in high, dry situations, wliile the Night Hawks fly 
in large flocks, and are very abundant in the immediate vicinity of 
marshy places. Its extended wing is four inches shorter than that 
of the hawk ; the tail is rounded ; the hawk's is forked. The man- 
dible is larger and stronger than that of the hawk, and long ranges 



KATUEAL HISTOEY. 41 

of bristles project from each side beyond the point of the bill. It 
has a pectinated claw on the middle toe, which, according to modern 
ornithologists is used to free itself of certain insects with which it is 
infested. It is nocturnal in its habits, and feeds upon large flies, 
moths, &c. In quiet evenings, it is heard to utter its name, — whip- 
poor-will, — very distinctly. During the present season a large num- 
ber of them have been shot in our neighborhood. 

*Night Hawk Caprimulgus .4mmcaww$. 

This is a migratory bird, almost identical with the English Night 
Hawk or Goat Sucker^ which has from the earliest times been con- 
sidered a bird of evil omen. It is referred to by Aristotle, Pliny, 
and other ancient writers as deserving all the imputations cast upon 
it. It is accused of flying upon goats and sucking them, — the teat 
soon after becoming dry, and the animal blind, — also of inflicting a 
fatal distemper on weaning calves should it happen to strike them 
when in quest of the insects with which these animals are infested. 
A little study into the real habits of the bird would however remove 
these erroneous opinions. It is nocturnal, and feeds upon moths 
and other large insects. It may be often seen in the City of Toronto, 
on a fine simmer evening, displaying a variety of inimitable evolu- 
tions as it glides with rapid wing in pursuit of its prey. 

*Chimney Swallow Hirundo pelasgia. 

This species is easily distinguished from the rest of its tribe by the 
thorny-looking extremities of its tail ; the shafts extending consider- 
ably beyond the vanes, sharp, elastic, and of a black colour. 

*Purple Martin Hirundo purpurea. 

This interesting and beautiful bird is so much a favorite in conse- 
quence of its social character, that it is no uncommon thing for 
persons to prepare it a place of abode during its brief sojourn. 
Hundreds of little boxes are stuck up on long poles in the gardens 
throughout the city, where these wanderers annually find a resting 
place, and a temporary home after their long flight. 

* White-bellied Swallow Hirundo bicolor. 

This bird feeds on the berries of the myrtle previous to its depar- 
ture in autumn. 

*Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica. 

This bird associates with the White-bellied Swallow, but is easily 

J) 



42 TOBONTO. 

distinguished by the chestnut color of the belly and vent. It flies 
with great velocity ; its usual speed being a mile a minute, and 
while on wing it collects its food. 

*Bank Swallow or Sand Martin Hirundo riparia. 

The Sand Martin is a social bird, large flocks of them uniting to 
form a colony in some favorite locality, such as the high sandy bank 
of an old quarry, or the bluff bank of a river. They excavate holes 
to the depth of from two to three feet — always horizontally — for 
their nests, and usually near the surface of the bank. The sand- 
banks near the Toronto Necropolis contain large colonies of them, 
and during the summer months they may be seen in hundreds hover- 
ing around the entrance to their abode. Their nests are always 
placed at the inner extremity of the burrow, and consist simply of 
a little dry grass, with a few downy feathers inside. 

*Belted Kingfisher. . . , Alcedo Alcyon. 

This bird frequents lonely and secluded places, near streams and 
torrents, perching on some overhanging bough or jutting cliff where 
it can watch in every direction for its prey. It darts down with 
incredible velocity upon its victim, seizes it and carries it off to some 
lonely spot to be devoured. The idea, — long entertained by the 



Family II. Tenuirostres. 

*Humming Bird Trochilus Colubris. 

This beautiful and delicate little bird makes its appearance amongst 
us about the middle of May when it may be seen hovering around 
the currant bushes. When the time of blossom has passed, it leaves 
our neighborhood and returns again about the end of July. Large 
numbers of young birds appear on this second visit, but very few 
adult male birds return, — a circumstance which has caused many to 
think that they do not rear their young in the immediate neighbor- 
hood. Upwards of fifty specimens shot during the past summer 
were examined by Mr. May, and not one of them had the orna- 
mental feathers on the throat, which are only found on the adult 
male, — the young male resembling the female in plumage. This is 
one of the most interesting of our Canadian birds, — brilliant in 
plumage, delicate in structure, and diminutive in size. Its food con- 
sists of small insects and of the nectar of flowers. After a shower 
of rain they may be seen hovering before a flower seemingly as if 
suspended in the air rather than by their wings, the rapid motion of 



STATURAL HISTORY. 43 

which produces that buzzing sound from which their name is derived. 
This is the only one of the genus which visits us, although there are 
upwards of four hundred species known, some few of which are 
natives of the southern part of North America. 

♦Black and "White Creeper Certhia maculata. 

This species is classed by some naturalists with the Sylviadce, or 
"Warblers, but as it has many of the characteristics of the Scansorial 
birds, Wilson has placed it with the genus Certhia. 

*Brown Creeper Certhia familiaris. 

This pretty little bird is identical with the European Brown 
Creeper. Like that bird it is ever on the move, climbing round the 
branches of trees with astonishing dexterity, and darting its prehen- 
sile tongue into every crevice for the insects therein lodged. They 
are very numerous in spring on the peninsula. 

* White-breasted Black-capped Nuthatch r . . Sitta Carolinensis. 

This bird, — formerly enrolled as a mere variety of the European 
Nuthatch, (Sitta Europea), — is now generally acknowledged as a 
distinct species. It feeds on insects, caterpillars, and beetles of a 
small size, and is also somewhat granivorous. It derives its name 
from the peculiar tact which it displays in extracting the kernels of 
nuts. 

*Red-bellied Black-capped Nuthatch, Sitta varia. 

This species is considerably smaller than the former, and is fre- 
quently found on the pine trees, associating with the smaller wood- 
peckers. 

Family III. Dentirosires. 

*Canada Fly Catcher . . . . , Muscicapa Canadensis, 

*Tyrant Fly Catcher, or King Bird u tyrannus. 

This species is very abundant in our neighborhood during the 
months of June and July. It is one of the most daring of the 
perching birds, — attacking Crows and Hawks and even Eagles, in 
defence of its young. It is only on this continent that we meet 
with the large species, or Tyrant Fly Catcher. Nature has here 
been lavish with her insect tribes, both as to numbers and size ; but 
in this bird she has opposed to them a most powerful and cruel 
enemy. 
*Crested Fly Catcher Muscicapa crinita. 



44 DOEOKTO. 

This species, like the fly catchers generally, is of a wild and soli- 
tary character, the physiognomy being of a distrustful, as well as 
ferocious expression. 

Green Crested Fly Catcher Ifuscicapa Acadica. 

*Pewit do do " fusca. 

*Wood Pewee do " rapax. 

This is one of our earliest visitants in spring. 

Small-headed Fly Catcher Museicapa cornutct. 

*Red Start «* ruticilla. 

This bird differs from the European Red Start, both in size and 
color. Our great American ornithologist, Wilson, places it amongst 
the fly catchers, although differently classed by several most respect- 
able authorities. 

Green Black-capped Fly Catcher Muscicctpa pusilla. 

* Yellow-throated Fly Catcher " sylvicola. 

*Small Blue-grey Fly Catcher ** ccerulea. 

White-eyed Fly Catcher u eantatrix. 

Solitary Fly Catcher. . ^ " Solitaria. 

*Great American Shrike Lanius borealis. 

This bird is very rare in the vicinity of Toronto. Although living 
partly on insects, it displays great ferocity of disposition in attacking 
small anhnals. Its beak is similar to that of birds of prey, and is 
used for a similar purpose. Like the European Butcher Bird, it has 
been accused of cruelty towards its victims ; but a more minute 
examination has convinced ornithologists that the claws being 
unadapted for grasping or tearing, it has to resort to methods which 
would be unnecessary were it furnished with the bill and the claws of 
a bird of prey. 

*B,obin Turdus migratorius. 

This bird is very different both in form and size from the English 
Robin. It no doubt received the name " Robin" from the early 
English settlers, in consequence of a similarity in disposition, and a 
striking resemblance in the colour of its breast. 

*Hermit Thrush Turdus solztarius. 

* Golden-crowned Thrush " aurocapillus* 

*Ferruginous Thrush " rufus. 

This is the largest of our Thrushes, and is ab once distinguished 
from the others by the length of its tail, and by its beautiful fan- 



STATURAL HISTORY. 45 

shape when the bird is on the wing. It is a good songster, almost 
equaling the Song Thrush in musical powers, and it is hailed as one 
of our earliest harbingers of spring. 

*Tawn y Thrush Turdus mustelinus. 

*Water Thrush " aquations. 

*Wood Thrush " melodus. 

As a songster, this bird is equal to the European Song Thrush — 
Turdus musicus. Audubon says : " Its song, although confined to 
but few notes, is so powerful, distinct, clear, and mellow, that it is 
impossible for any person to hear it without being struck with the 
effect it produces on the mind." 

*Cat Bird * Turdus lividtts. 

This is one of our most common summer visitants- 
Brown Lark Antkus spinoletta. 

This is the Alauda Bufa of Wilson, but Bonaparte, after repeated 
observations, and the distinguished Audubon, both class it with the 
genus Anthus. 

* Yellow-rump Warbler Mniotllta coronata. 

*Black-poli ** !t striata. 

*Yellow-throated " " pensilis. 

*Bay-breasted " " castanea. 

Bonaparte says this bird was first discovered and described by 
Wilson. European Ornithologists do not mention it, and probably 
have not met with it. 

Cape May Warbler Mniotllta maritima. 

*Chestnut-sided " " Pennsylvania* 

*Mouraing " " Philadelphia. 

*Pine Creeping " " pinns. 

*Blackburnian " " Blackbumias. 

Yellow-backed " " Americana. 

Blaek and Yellow" " maculata. 

♦Black- throated Blue Warbler «« Canadensis. 

♦Maryland Yellow- throated Warbler " trichas. 

*Golden- winged Warbler « chrysoptera. 

*Blue-eyed Yellow " " aestiva. 

This beautiful little bird is most familiar and unsuspicious in its 
disposition, allowing you to approach within three or four yards of 
it, seemingly without fear. Great numbers of them may be seen in 



46 TOBONTO. 

the gardens in the upper part of the city, among the shrubs and 
fruit trees, and sometimes in the streets, unmindful of the bustle and 
din of a crowded thoroughfare. For many summers past they have 
frequented in great numbers a large willow tree in Yonge street, 
nearly opposite Gerrard street, and always appeared most sprightly 
and joyful when there was any extra stir on the street. It is the 
most plentiful of our warbler visitants. 

The Cow Bunting, which, like the European Cuckoo, deposits its 
eggs in other birds' nests, frequently does so in the nest of the Blue- 
eyed Yellow "Warbler, and the way in which this little bird gets rid 
of the alien egg — which is much larger than its own — is singularly 
ingenious. Unable to eject the egg, in consequence of its size, it 
builds a new bottom to the nest, completely covering over the 
Bunting's egg, and thus depriving it of all warmth during incuba- 
tion. Should the Bunting again pay a visit to the nest, a similar 
course is adopted, even at the sacrifice of its own eggs, rather than 
become a foster parent. 

The Warblers are extremely numerous. Audubon describes forty- 
four different species as being common to America. Those most 
commonly met with in the neighbourhood of Toronto are of small 
size and very delicate structure, and many of them are remarkable 
for the melody of their song, which they pour forth incessantly dur- 
ing the period of incubation. They are migratory in their habits and 
rank among our summer visitants. They are familiar tenants in our 
gardens and shrubberies, living almost exclusively on insects which 
they catch on wing, or peck from the leaves of the trees and shrubs 
they frequent. When insect food fails they resort to grain and 
fruit. 

Carolina Wren Troglodytes Ludoviciaim&. 

*Winter Wren « " hyemclis. 

* Marsh Wren " palustris. 

*Wood Wren „ u Americanus. 

*House Wren " domestica. 

The immense numbers of caterpillars and other insects which tliis 
little bird destroys, should endear it especially to all who have 
gardens. One pair will, while providing for the wants of their 
young, destroy many hundreds of these insects daily. They build 
readily in small boxes fastened to the top of a pole in the garden or 
under the eaves of the hoiise. They are deserving of all the attention 
that could be paid to them, in consequence of their value in clearing 
away the caterpillars and other insects so destructive of the beauty 
o f the garden. 



NATTJBAL HISTORY. 47 



*Golden-crested Wren, or American. 
Regulus 



y Regulus satrapa. 



This delightful little bird frequents the largest trees. It is almost 
incessantly in motion from early morn — flitting from branch to 
branch — clinging to them in every conceivable way in search of the 
larvae of insects, which are attached to the leaves and stems. It also 
takes numerous small flies on wing. 

*Ruby-crowned "Wren Regulus salendula. 

This is one of our earliest spring visitants, but rarely stays during 
summer. In the spring of 1857 they were very numerous on the 
peninsula for eight or ten days ; they then totally disappeared, 
having removed further north. They penetrate as far as the 
Hudson's Bay territory, and in that northern region build their 
nests and rear their young. They visit us again in autumn, and, 
associating with the Golden-crested Wren, they find a rich harvest 
in the myriads of insects which infest our fruit trees. These two 
birds are so closely allied in habits, general form and color, that a 
narrow inspection is necessary in order to distinguish them. The 
Ruby-crowned Wren wears a crown of rich vennillion, while the 
crest of the other is of a golden or orange color. 

*The Blue Bird Sialea Wilsoni, 

Early in March this beautiful bird makes its appearance, and 
visits the old box in the garden, or the hole in the old apple tree, 
which may have formed the cradle for some generations of its 
ancestors. It is tame and confiding, and generally receives a joyous 
welcome from those whose gardens it visits. 

*Black-capped Titmouse Parus atricapillus. 

This species is so closely allied in habits and appearance to the 
European Marsh Titmouse (Parus Palustris) that they were at <one 
time considered identical. The opinion is now almost universal that 
they are distinct species, — the Black-capped Titmouse being exclu- 
sively American. This hardy little bird braves the severest cold. 
It ranges as far north as Hudson's Bay, and appears most lively in 
the coldest weather. According to Nuttall, it is named chickadee 
by many European colonists. In the fall and winter it frequents 
the gardens and yards of the more retired streets in the city. The 
woodshed is a favorite place of resort, where, perched on the wood- 
pile, it searches in the crevices of the bark and among the decayed 
wood for the numerous insects and their larvae, which are there to 
be found. 



48 TOEONTO. 

Cedar Bird Ampclis cedrorum. 

This bird, commonly called the Cherry Bird, in consequence of its 
fondness for cherries, may be seen in the gardens in this city so late 
as the middle of January. It seldom winters near Toronto. It is a 
resident of the United States throughout the year, selecting for its 
winter quarters the Middle and Southern States. It is a voracious 
bird, often gorging itself to such an extent as to be unable to fly. 
Audubon speaks of having seen them, even in a domestic state, eat 
apples to suffocation. So soon as the cherries begin to ripen, flocks 
of these birds may be seen feeding voraciously on the ripest and the 
best, and no ordinary precaution, in the shape of scare-crows, will 
intimidate them. Nor are they easily driven from any tree, if well 
stored with fruit. A large flock of these cherry devourers made a 
descent on a favorite tree in a garden on Gerrard Street, two summers 
ago. Their noisy chatter attracted the attention of the lady of the 
house, who saw with dismay the fruit of her favorite cherry tree 
rapidly disappearing. Broom in hand, she tried to change their 
quarters, but, being somewhat beyond reach, they paid no attention 
either to her threats or her broom, and only left when they had 
enjoyed an abundant feast. 

Bohemian Chatterer Ampelis garrula. 

The principal difference between this and the Cedar Bird is in size, 
the Chatterer being considerably larger. There is no difference in 
plumage or disposition, which may account for the fact that it is 
only noticed by one or two writers on Canadian Ornithology. Du- 
ring the present spring, a young Chatterer was shot in the midst of a 
flock of Cedar Birds. They appear to be excessively fond of the 
berry of the mountain ash, and, like the Cedar Birds, may be seen 
congregated in large numbers on the dead branch of some tree after 
they have done feeding. 

Family IV. Conirostres. 
*Shore Lark Alauda alpestris. 

This bird arrives in our vicinity in the spring. It is said to winter 
within the boundaries of the City of Philadelphia, leaving about 
the middle of March, on its route to the north. Foster says that it 
visits the environs of Albany Fort in the beginning of May, but 
goes further north to breed. 

*Meadow Lark Alauda magna. 

This is the Meadow Starling of some ornithologists. They are 



NATTJBAL HISTOET. 49 

numerous in our vicinity throughout the summer and in the fall. 
In richness of plumage this bird surpasses all others of the genus, 
and though its notes are few, they are equal if not superior in sweet- 
ness of tone to the famous European Sky Lark (Alauda Arvensis), 
the theme of many a beautiful lyric, — 

" Type of the wise, who soar, but never roam, 
True to the kindred points of heaven and home." 

*Song Sparrow Fringilla melodia. 

This species is very common in the neighborhood of Toronto. It 
is our earliest song bird, and is famed for melody and richness of 
voice. It is of a social disposition. Two years ago a pair of these 
birds built their nest in a small shrub in the Normal School grounds, 
almost immediately under one of the windows. When the weather 
became warm, and it was found necessary to open the window to 
admit a current of air, the little pair were discovered in their for- 
merly snug retreat. The female was very timid at first ; but by the 
gentle assurances of its mate, confidence was restored, and after a 
few days it would remain quite composed in the nest though the 
window was lifted, and though any one was standing watching it. 

*White Throated Sparrow Fringilla Pennsylvania. 

This is the handsomest as well as the largest of our sparrows. 
They visit us about the end of April, and remain till the beginning 
of October, when they again go south to winter. 

*Chipping Sparrow Fringilla soeialis. 

This is the most familiar and domestic bird of the genusv 

♦Tree Sparrow Fringilla Canadensis, 

*Snow Bird Fringilla Hudsonia. 

As soon as winter commences, this bird makes its appearance in 
the neighborhood, and as the cold becomes intense, they flock into 
the city, and may be seen in almost any garden during the cold 
weather searching for their food. It is a true finch and must not 
be confounded with the Snow Bunting, although like that bird it is 
the harbinger of cold. Wilson says that it is the most numerous of 
all the feathered tribes that visit us from the frozen regions, and the 
most extensively disseminated throughout the entire continent. 

*Lesser Redpoll Fringilla borealis. 

This is also known as a snow bird from the fact of its appearance 
when our snowy wintry weather commences. During the cold wea- 



50 TOEONTO. 

ther it may be seen in the garden or the woodshed in quest of food 
It associates with the Cedar Bird. 

*Pine Finch Fringilla pinus. 

This little bird takes up its residence in winter, almost exclusively 
among the pine trees, where it feeds on the cones, which are then 
fully ripe. 

*Purple Finch Fringilla purpurea. 

This is a rare species in our neighborhood. The male is of a dark 
crimson, the female of a brown or olive color. 

Bay Winged Finch Fringilla graminea. 

This species is very numerous in the city and neighborhood during 
the summer months. 

*Gold Finch Fringilla tristis. 

Evening Grosbeak Coccothraustes vespertinus. 

*Rose-breasted Grosbeak , Guiraca Ludoviciana. 

This beautiful species is very abundant in the vicinity of Toronto 
in spring. They are also numerous on the island, where they are 
often wantonly destroyed by lads who resort thither to practise 
shooting. The plumage of the female is not so beautiful as that of 
the male. The breast is of a light yellow streaked with olive. 

*Cardinal Grosbeak Cardinalis Virginianus. 

This bird is known in England as the Virginia Nightingale. It is 
easily domesticated, and is much admired for the brilliancy of its 
plumage as well as for the richness and strength of its voice. 

*Pine Grosbeak Strobilophaga enucleator. 

Black Throated Bunting Emberiza Americana. 

*Cow Bunting Emberiza pecoris. 

This bird was previously alluded to as dropping its eggs in the 
nest of the Blue-eyed Yellow Warbler. It selects for that purpose 
the nests of various other birds of the fly catcher and warbler genus, 
though why, naturalists are still unable to discover. 

*Rice Bunting Emberiza oryzivora. 

This is the Bob-o-link of some writers. It is met with now and 
again in our neighborhood, though by no means numerous. Its 
plumage is beautiful ; its notes are musical, and its flesh is prized by 
the epicure. In the Southern States, where they are very numerous, 



NATUBAL HISTOBY. 51 

the planters look upon them as a devouring scourge to their rice 
fields, and therefore destroy them in great numbers. 

*Snow Bunting » Emberiza nivalis. 

This bird is well known amongst us. It is the hardiest bird of its 
size that is known. It is not only found in Lapland and Greenland, 
but in the intensely cold and inhospitable region of Spitzbergen, 
where vegetation is almost unknown. It is also very abundant in 
the Highlands of Scotland where it is known by the name of the 
Snow-flake. 



*Towhe Bunting Emberiza erythropt 



era. 



This bird is well known from its plaintive cry of " To-whe " with 
which our neighboring woods resound. From a variety of examina- 
tions it is considered that this bird has the property of changing the 
color of the iris of its eye in the same way as the chameleon changes 
its hue. 

♦White Crowned Bunting Emberiza eucophrys. 

*Indigo Bird Spiza cyanea. 

Painted Finch Spiza ciris. 

This bird is very rare in our neighborhood, being only now and 
again seen. 

* American Crossbill Loxia Curvirostra. 

These birds are usually seen in large flocks, and when the winter 
is severe they are frequently seen in the neighborhood. 

White-winged Crossbill Loxia leucoptera. 

Very rare. 
*Scarlet Tanager Tanagra rubra. 

This is the most brilliant of all the birds which visit us from the 
south. Its plumage is bright scarlet, except that of the wings and 
tail, which are of a deep glossy black. Like the Rose-breasted Gros- 
beak, the male Tanager is made the target of idle and malicious 
lads. The female being of a greenish colour eludes more easily 
their wanton cruelty. 

^Baltimore Oriole Yphantes Baltimore. 

This bird, as its name imports, is also one of our southern visitors, 
and is much admired for the richness of its plumage. The head and 
throat, and part of the back and wings, are black ; the rest brilliant 



52 TOItONTO. 

orange. The Oriole remains with ns during the summer months, and 
although rare in the neighborhood of the city, it is not so fifty miles 
further north. This is not the result so much of a retiring disposi- 
tion, as Wilson, in an interesting account of this bird, says : " Since 
the streets of our cities have been planted with that beautiful and 
stately tree — the Lombardy poplar — these birds are our constant visi- 
tors during the early part of summer, and amid the noise and tumult 
of coaches, drays, wheelbarrows, and the din of the multitude, heard 
chanting l ' their native wood notes wild," sometimes, too, within a 
few yards of an oysterman who stands bellowing with the lungs of a 
stentor under the shade of the same tree. 

*Orchard Oriole Xanihomus varius. 

*Red-winged Starling Sturnus predatorius. 

These birds are very numerous on the peninsula in the early spring, 
congregating together in flocks. 

*Rusty Grakle Grucula ferruginea. 

This bird associates with the Red-winged Starling, and is found at 
the peninsula with it. 



*Purple Grakle, or Crow Blackbird Gracula quiscala. 

This is one of the birds whose office in the economy of nature 
seems to be misunderstood. It is disliked by the farmer, in conse- 
quence of its supposed mischief to his crops. Naturalists agree in 
saying that it is not a granivorous bird — at least, not exclusively — 
but that it feeds upon the caterpillars and worms, and other insects, 
which, if left unmolested,, would make fearful ravages in the crops. 

* Raven Corvus cor ax. 

This bird frequents the shores of our Lakes, and feeds on dead fish 
which may be cast up by the waves. It is also fond of shell fish, 
and, like the Vulture, feeds on carrion no matter how putrescent. 

*Crow Corvus corone. 

♦Blue Jay Corvus cristatus. 

This bird is frequently kept in a domestic state. It possesses won^ 
derful powers of mimicry, and is admired for its sagacity as well as 
for the beauty of its plumage. 

*Canada Jay Corvus Canadensis. 

This bird is common with us during the winter months ; but it has 



NATURAL HISTORY. 53 

no peculiar attractions, as its plumage is of a rusty grey and white 
colour. 

Order III. Sccmsores. (Climbers.) 

This "order," in the systems of several eminent Ornithologists, 
forms a family of the Insessores, or perching birds ; but Cuvier 
makes them a distinct order. 

* Yellow billed Cuckoo „ Cuculus Carolineus. 

This species is very common throughout Upper Canada. It differs 
from the European Cuckoo, inasmuch as it builds its own nests and 
rears its young. Its nest frequently presents this striking peculiarity 
of recently laid eggs, young birds newly hatched, and nestlings ready 
to fly — the female bird commencing incubation as soon as the first 
egg is laid. 

*Black-billed Cuckoo .Cuculus Erythropthalmus. 

*Canada Woodpecker Picus leucomelas. 

*Pileated Woodpecker Picus pileatus. 

This is the largest of our Canadian Woodpeckers. It is eighteen 
inches long, with an expanse of wing of twenty-eight inches. It is 
common in the Northern States under the name of the Black Wood- 
cock, and in the Southern States as the Log-cock. 

*Hairy Woodpecker Picus villosus. 

Downy Woodpecker Picus pubescens. 

This is the smallest of our Woodpeckers. 

* Yellow-bellied Woodpecker Picus varius. 

Red-bellied Woodpecker Picus Carolinus. 

* Red-headed Woodpecker Picus erythrocephalus. 

This bird is very numerous in our neighbourhood. Its red, white, 
and black plumage make it very attractive. 

*Golden-winged Woodpecker Picus auratus. 

This is also a well-known species, being very common throughout 
Upper Canada. 
Three-toed Woodpecker ..... Picus arcticus. 

Order IV. Gallince or Basores. (Scrapers.) 

The birds composing this order are nearly all granivorous and ter- 
restrial in their habits. 

* Passenger Pigeon ... 3 Columba Migratoria. 

This is the most numerous of all the JSTorth American birds, and 
ranges from Hudson's Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. 



54 TORONTO. 

♦Common Quail or American Partridge Ortyx Vifginianus. 

This is the only species of Quail known in Canada. Although they 
winter here the climate seems too severe for them, as they are fre- 
quently found frozen to death. 

Carolina Pigeon Cohtmba Carolinensis . 

^Pinnated Grouse , Tetrao cupido. 

This is the Heath Sen of our Legislative Act for the preservation 
of game. 

*Ruffed Grouse Tetrao umbellus. 

This bird is known as the American pheasant. 

*Canada Grouse Tetrao Canadensis. 

This species is common throughout Canada, and is much smaller 
than either the Ruffed or Pinnated Grouse. 

Order V. Grallatores (Stilt Birds or Waders). 

The Grallatores form an intermediate group between the Scraping 
and Swimming Birds. 

*Florida Gallinule Gallinula galeata. 

This bird is very common in our marshes, and is almost identical 
with the European Gallinule {Gallinula Chloropus). 

*Araerican Coot Fuliea Americana. 

* Virginia Rail Rallus Virginianus. 

*Clapper Rail Rallus crepitans. 

This bird is variously known as the Mud Hen, Meadow Clapper, 
or Big Rail. Wilson says that its eggs are ' ' exquisite eating, far 
surpassing those of the domestic Hen." 

Water Hen Rallus elegans". 

*Rail Rallus Carolinus. 

*N"ight Heron Ardea nycticorax. 

* American Bittern " lentiginosa. 

*Least Bittern ' ' exilis. 

*Green Heron M virescens. 

*Great Blue Heron " herodias. 

*Black-bellied Plover Charadrius helveticus. 

Golden Plover " marmoratus. 

*Kildeer Plover M vociferus. 

*Ringed Plover M hialicula. 

*Wilson's Plover , , " Wilsonius. 



NATTTEAL HISTOEY. 55 

*Turnstone Cinclus interpres. 

*Ash-colored Sandpiper Tringa cinerea. 

*Red- backed Sandpiper " alpina. 

This species is so numerous at the peninsula about the end of May, 
when they arrive here, that one individual is stated to have shot 
thirty dozen in one day. 

*Semi-palmated Sandpiper Tringa semipalmata. 

Little Sandpiper , " pusilla. 

Sandarling Sandpiper " arenaria. 

*Spotted Sandpiper Totanus macularius. 

*Solitary Tattler, or Sandpiper " solitarius. 

* Yellow Shank Tattler " flavipes. 

*Tell-tale Tattler " vociferus. 

*Great Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa. 

*Common Snipe Scolopax Wilsonii. 

*Red-breasted Snipe " JSFoveboracensis, 

* American Woodcock Philohela minor. 

*Esquimaux Curlew Numenius borealis. 

Whimbrel M phceopus. 

American Curlew " longirostris. 

Order VI. Natatores or Palmipedes (Swimming Birds). 

This order contains those birds whose habits are decidedly aquatic. 
They are almost all easily distinguished from the preceding orders 
by the peculiar structure and position of their feet ; the toes being 
connected together by a membrane, and their legs placed behind the 
equilibrium of the body, thus giving them greater force as propellers 
in the water. Their food consists chiefly of fish and insects. 

Trumpeter Swan Cygnas buccinator. 

*Canada Goose Anser Canadensis. 

Brent Goose " Bernicla. 

*Snow Goose " hyperboreus. 

*Mallard Duck Anas boschas. 

*Dusky Duck " obscura. 

Gadwall " strepera. 

* American Widgeon " Americana. 

*Pintail Duck " acuta. 

*Wood Duck " sponsa. 

*American Green-winged Teal " Oarolinensis. 

*Blue- Winged Teal " discors. 

Shoveller Duck " clypeata. 

*Canvass-back Duck Fuligula valisneria. 

*Bed-headed Duck " fernia. 



56 TOBONTO. 

American Scaup Duck Fuligula marila. 

Lake do " mariloides. 

*Ruddy do " rubida. 

Pied Scaup Duck " Labradora. 

*Velvet do " fusca. 

*Surf do " perspicillata. 

* American Scoter " Americana. 

*Eider Duck " mollissima. 

King Duck " spectabilis. 

*Golden-eye Duck " clangula. 

*Buffel-headed " « albeola. 

Harlequin " " histrionica. 

*Long-tailed " " glaciaiis. 

*Tufted Duck " collaris. 

^Goosander Mergus merganser. 

*Red-breasted Merganser '•' serrator. 

*Hooded do " cucullatus. 

*Smew, or White do " Albellus. 

*Great Northern Diver, or Loon Colymbus glaciaiis. 

*Red-throated Diver " septenirionalis. 

*Marsh Tern Sterna Anglica. 

^Common do " hirundo. 

*Leser Tern, or Sea Swallow " minuta. 

*Caspian Tern " Oaspia. 

An exceedingly fine specimen of this rare bird was shot in our 
neighbourhood recently, and is now in the museum of University 
College. 

Little Auk JJria alle. 

Marbled Guillemot " grylle. 

*Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus. 

*Kittawake => " vcidactylus. 

Laughing Gull c " atricilla. 

Large White-winged Gull '• glacus. 

Ivory Gull •' cberneus. 

Common American " zonorhynchns. 

*Herring Gull '* argentatus. 

*Saddle-back Gull " marinus. 

Common Skua Lestris cataractes. 

Richardson's Skua '* Richardsonii, 

*Orested Grebe Podiceps cristatus. 

*Red-necked do " rubricollis. 

*Horned do " cornutus. 

* Pied-bellied Dobchick , " Carolinensis. 

Cormorant « Graculus carbo. 



NATTJEAL HISTORY. 57 

Class III. Beptilia (Reptiles.) 

With the exception of one member of the Ranidsean Family — and 
that even by our citizens very rarely, so far as I am aware — there are 
none of the animals which belong to this class sought after for any 
utilitarian purpose whatever, unless by the Herpetologist, who lauda- 
bly pursues his somewhat repulsive investigations, that science may 
be enriched thereby, or by the collector who wishes to fill up the 
niche in his museum which would otherwise be left without its proper 
representative. Although most of them are rather loathsome than 
otherwise, their organizations are fitted to excite our deepest interest 
and admiration. The foot of the common frog, for example, is one 
of the most wonderful pieces of mechanism which nature exhibits, 
and each member of the class has some distinctive feature which dis • 
plays the wonderful wisdom of the Creator. I am indebted to 
DeKay's valuable works for the lengths and markings of the class 
here described. The specimens found in our neighborhood vary so 
much that I deemed it better to give the conclusions of so eminent a 
Herpetologist to any random remarks of my own. 

Family Chelonid^:. 

The animals of this family are strictly oviparous, hiding their eggs 
in the sand and leaving them to be hatched by the heat of the sun. 
Some of them are exclusively aquatic, others exclusively terrestrial, 
while others appear to live equally on the land and in the water. 

Leather Turtle Sphargis coriacea. 

Soft-shelled Turtle Trionyx ferox. 

This species is abundant in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. 

Snapping Turtle Chelonura serpentina. 

This is one of our largest turtles ; it is from two to four feet long. 
It is met with frequently at a distance from the water, either in 
search of food or a suitable place to deposit its eggs. It feeds upon 
frogs and fishes, and snaps greedily at ducks as they are swimming 
along, dragging them under water, to be devoured at leisure. Its 
popular name is derived from this propensity to snapping. In other 
places it is known under the names Loggerhead, Alligator Turtle, 
and Couta. DeKay speaks of having seen a small leech (clepsina 
scabra) adhering to this species. 

Smooth Terrapin t Etnys terrapin 

Painted Tortoise , " picta. 

Spotted Tortoise " guttata,. 



58 TOEONTO. 

This species feeds on insects, frogs and worms. They bury them- 
selves on the approach of winter in the mud at the bottom of ponds. 

Wood Terrapin Emys insculpta. 

This species is not exclusively aquatic, being often found at a 
distance from the water. It is generally called the Fresh-water 
Terrapin. 

Red-bellied Terrapin Emys rubriventris. 

Geographic Tortoise " geographica. 

Pseudo Geographic Tortoise . , " pseudo geographica. 

Mud Tortoise Kinostemon JPenn&ylvanicum. 

Musk Tortoise Sternotharrus odoratus. 

This species, under the names Musk Tortoise, Mud Turtle, Mud 
Terrapin, or Stinkpot, is to be found in most of our ponds and 
ditches. 
Common Box Tortoise Cistuda Carolina. 

This species is frequently kept in cellars, under the idea that it 
expels rats and other domestic vermin. It feeds on insects, fruit, 
and the edible mushroom. It never takes to the water by choice. 
Blandiog's Box Tortoise Cistuda Blandingii 

Family Coxuberid^. 
The Black Snake Coluber constrictor. 

This species is from three to six feet in length, of a uniform shining 
bluish black above, with the margin of the jaws, chin, and throat 
white ; the belly usually slate coloured or bluish white. It climbs 
trees with great ease by coiling itself round the trunk in a spiral 
manner in search of eggs and young birds. The colours of most of 
the snakes are exceedingly brilliant, but they require to be seen alive 
ascending a tree, or gliding through the grass when the sun is shin- 
ing on them, to be fully appreciated, as their colour loses its lustre 
after death. 
The Milk Snake Coluber eximius. 

This species is from three to five feet long. It has a variety of 
names, being known as the Chicken Snake, Thunder and Lightning 
Snake, House Snake, and Chequered Adder. There are from 30 to 
50 chestnut coloured spots, bordered with black, distributed along 
the whole upper surface of the body and tail. These spots are often 
minutely punctate with red. On the summit of the head there is 
often a reddish semi-circular band extending from one eye to the 
other. 



NATUKAL HISTOET. 59 

Ring Snake Coluber punctatus. 

This species is from twelve to eighteen inches long. It is bluish 
brown, approaching to black above ; head lustrous black ; a yellowish 
white round the neck, margined with black ; beneath it is yellowish 
white. 

Grass Snake Coluber vernalis. 

This species is from one to two feet in length ; grass-green above ; 
with smooth scales ; beneath white tinged with yellow ; head dark 
olive brown ; throat dull white. 

"Water Snake Tropidonotus sipedon. 

This speeies is from two to five feet long ; dark brown, banded 
with a darker shade ; beneath white varied with brown or rufous. 

Striped Snake Tropidonotus tcenia. 

This species is known under the names Green Garter Snake, Slow 
Garter, Swamp Garter, Water Garter, &c. ; it is from two to four 
feet long, greenish-brown, with three light stripes running along the 
body. 

Yellow-bellied Snake Tropidonotus leberis. 

Length from two to three feet ; olive brown, with three black lines 
above ; beneath, yellow. 

Small Brown Snake Tropidonotus Dekayi. 

Length, twelve to fifteen inches ; reddish brown ; lighter coloured 
dorsal stripe with a double row of small blackish spots. 

Ribbon Snake .Leptophis saurita. 

Length, from one to two feet ; body slender ; chocolate brown 
with three yellowish stripes. 
Red Snake Calamaria amana. 

Length, six to twelve inehes ; reddish brown ; beneath red ; scales 
smooth. 
Hog-nosed Snake Heterodon platyrhinos* 

This species is two feet long. It is greyish,, tinged with yellow, 
and having a triple series of blackish blotches above. The dorsal 
series largest, bordered with black, and dark brown around the eyes. 

Family Crotalid^. 

Copper Head Trigonocephalus contortfix 

Length, two to three feet ; reddish brown patches over the back. 



60 TORONTO. 

Northern Rattle Snake Crolalus durissus. 

This snake is three feet long, reddish brown or chestnut, and black 
with regular rhomboidal black blotches. Although plentiful at 
Niagara, where it may be seen sunning itself on the limestone cliffs, 
I am not aware that this species has every been met with in our im- 
mediate neighborhood. Its range is as far north, but it is only found 
as a general thing amongst rocks and jutting cliffs, a kind of rustic 
scenery of which our vicinity is entirely destitute. 

Class Amphibia. — Family Banid^. 

Bull Frog Eana pipiens- 

This species is common throughout North America. It attains to 
a very large size, measuring from six to seven inches in length, and 
having a corresponding corpulency. Audubon says that the hind 
legs (when cooked) are white, tender, and excellent eating. Some 
specimens weigh half a pound. 

Large Northern Bull Frog Eana Horiconensis. 

It is somewhat doubtful whether we have the species here named. 
It is much smaller than the Bull Frog, being only from three to four 
inches long. Its name is local, being derived from Lake George, in 
the State of New York, the Indian name of which is "Lake 
Horicon," as upon its banks the species first described was found. 

Spring Frog Eana fontinalis. 

This is the species which is so much esteemed as a delicacy, al- 
though I am not aware that that nicely adjusted Epicurean taste 
which would so peculiarly relish either Spring Frogs, or that other 
Imperial dish — "peacock's brains" — is much cultivated in Toronto. 
The appearance of our St. Lawrence market would almost negative 
such an idea. This species lives in the immediate vicinity of clear 
pools and running streams, and leaps into them when disturbed. It 
feeds upon aquatic insects, and such others as may approach within 
its reach. It is from three to four inches long. 

Marsh Frog Eana palustris. 

Shad Frog " halcina. 

These Frogs seem synonymous with the Water Frog of some 
Naturalists, being termed Water Frog, Shad Frog, and Marsh Frog, 
indiscriminately. DeKay gives them as distinct species. The Shad 
Frog of North America is, however, considered the representative of 
the Eana esculenta of the European Continent, as it resembles that 
species closely in habits and colouring. 



NATURAL HISTOEY. 61 

Wood Frog Rana sylvaticus. 

The Hermit Spade Foot (scophiopus solitarius) is a curious species, 
with the teeth of a frog and the parotid glands of a toad. It was 
first detected by the eminent Herpetologist, Dr. Holbrook, and 
placed by him as a connecting link between the two genera. I have 
not seen it in any of our collections, and doubt whether it has been 
found in our immediate neighborhood, although it is very possible. 

Common American Toad Bufo Americanus. 

Pickering's Hylodes Hylodes Pickeringi. 

Cricket Hylodes * gryllus. 

Northern Tree Toad " versicolor. 

Squirrel Tree Toad •* squirella. 

Family Salamaktdbidje. 

Yellow-bellied Salamander. ..,...»....„... . . .Salamandra symmetrica. 

Red backed " erythronota,' 

Painted " " picta. 

Blotched " " fasciata. 

Granulated " granulata- 

Scarlet " coccinea. 

Tiger Triton Triton tigrinus. 

Common Spotted Triton " millepunctatus. 

Dusky Triton " nigra. 

Grey Spotted Triton " porphyriticus. 

Family Amphiumid^. 

Three-toed Ampbiuma Amphiuma tridactylum. 

Two species of Amphiuma only are known, and specimens of both 
have been discovered in our neighborhood. They have four limbs, 
very small and jointless. One species has three toes on each limb ; 
the other only two. These animals are essentially formed for the 
water, where they obtain their prey. On the approach of winter, 
they bury themselves in the mud, and there hybernate. Occasion- 
ally, however, they creep on land and burrow in spongy places or 
under decaying logs or fallen trunks of trees in swamps and marshes. 

Family Sirenid^. 

The Banded Menobranchus Menobranchus lateralis. 

This species is generally called the Big Water Lizard. Of its 
habits little is known. Several specimens have been taken in the 
River Don — all on night-lines which had been set for eels. 



62 TOBOKTO. 

Class IY. Pisces (Fishes). 

As our little work is more exclusively confined to Toronto and its 
immediate vicinity, it would be somewhat out of place to enter at 
all minutely into a description of the varied kinds of fish that in- 
habit Lake Ontario. A reference to a few of the more prominent 
ones will therefore suffice. The first in order that claims notice is — 

The Yellow Perch Perca flavesceus. 

Common Pond Fish Pomotis vulgaris. 

Marsh Sun-fish 

There is a great variety in the specimens of this genus that have 
been obtained, and it is consequently difficult to say what number 
of species there are. 

The Piearel Lncioperca Americana. 

The Little Piearel , Pileoma semifasciatum. 

Black Bass Huro nigricans. 

Rock Bass Centrarchus ceneus. 

Lake White Bass Labrax albidus. 

Lake Sheepshead. Corvina oscula. 

Agassiz states that this fish is found in Lake Champlain, Lake 
Erie, Lake Ontario, and the Ohio River. It is but remotely allied 
to the genus Corvina, and must be considered as the type of a dis- 
tinct genus, described upwards of thirty years ago by Rafinesque, 
one of our most indefatigable naturalists, under the name of 
Ambloden. 

Common Sucker Catastomus communis. 

Mallet Sucker " aureolus. 

Pale Sucker " pallidus. 

Long- finned Chub Sucker Labeo cyprinus. 

There is a species of the true shad (Clupea Alosa) taken in the 
Lake, but it is very rare. 
Roughhead Leuciscus Cornutus. 

Yery little is known of the genus Leuciscus or Dace Family. The 
one here named is seldom taken in the Lake, as it prefers the run- 
ning waters of creeks, where it is always found in company with its 
congener, the 
Blacknosed Dace Leuciscus Atronasus. 

There are many little fishes in the streams in the immediate neigh- 
borhood that go under the names of Chub and Minnow, but exam- 
ination shows that they present a great difference in generic form, 
and have therefore for convenience sake been all classed together. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 63 

We have two species, at least, of the Garpike, or genus Lepidosteus. 

Common Pike Esox lucius. 

Maskinonge " estor. 

Great Lake Catfish Pimelodus nigricans. 

Agassiz terms this fish Pimelodus Cosrulescens. It weighs occa- 
sionally over one hundred pounds. 

Common Catfish Pimelodus catus. 

The great Lake Trout Salmo namaycush. 

Brook Trout " fontinalis. 

White Fish Coregonus albus. 

Frosted White Fish " 

There are several species of Coregonus which are termed herrings 
by the lake fishermen. 

Sturgeon Acipenser Sturio. 

There are two species of this fish, one of which is termed by the 
fishermen, the Rock Sturgeon. The one named above is a very 
large fish and not so common in our waters. 

The Dog Fish Amia ocelicauda' 

There are two species of Dog Fish in the bay ; the one here named 
is a very pretty fish. They are not eaten. 

Eel-pout Gadus lota. 

This fish is sometimes taken in great numbers. The fishermen on 
the island make an excellent oil from the liver, which burns well and 
produces a good light. There are two or three species of eel, the 
largest of which inhabit the lake. 

Great Lake Eel Anguilla. 

Silver Eel 

Long-nosed Eel 

Tie Lamprey Eel Petromyzon. 

This fish is common in the lake where it is a parasite on the 
Salmon. 

Invebtebrata. 

The animals which compose the sub -kingdom Articttlata are 
exceedingly numerous and minute. The Insecta is the only class 
which I have noticed at any length. It not only belongs to the 
hig.iest division of the series, but its study is very interesting. The 
other branches, including the Centipede tribe, the Spiders and Mites, 
the Crabs and Lobsters and other crustaceous animals, the Leech 



64 TOEONTO. 

and Worm tribe, and the lowest stage of all, the Wheel Animalcules, 
I have not entered upon. They require an elaboration altogether 
too minute and microscopic for my present purpose. 

Class Y. Insecta (Insects). 

Entomology is a branch of Natural History hitherto but little 
studied in Toronto. Some nine years ago Professor Croft delivered 
a very interesting lecture on Entomology in the Mechanics' Institute, 
and contrary to the expectations of some of the Committee of the 
Institute, who looked upon the subject as rather a small affair, and 
not likely to be attractive, he had a large audience. The worthy 
Professor exhibited a collection which he had himself formed, and 
which up to that time had been strictly private, and although the 
subject was entirely new to most of the audience, they were exceed- 
ingly delighted with such a large collection of " beautiful butterflies..'* 
This lecture had one happy result,, for it gave a stimulus to Mr. 
William Couper, then a journeyman printer in the Globe office, to 
prosecute with greater vigor a study whieh he had a few years before 
commenced, and which from that time to this, he has prosecuted 
with unabated zeal and with very great success. When Dr. Goadby 
delivered his admirable lectures on Natural History in Toronto, in 
1854^ he paid a high and justly merited compliment to Mr. Couper 
as a most successful entomologist. 

At the Provincial Show held here in 1852, Mr. Couper exhibited 
a large collection in which were included specimens of all the Orders 
of this division of Natural History found in the vicinity of Toronto. 
That beautiful collection, after sundry additions, has recently been 
sold to Professor Dawson of McGill College, Montreal, and I under- 
stand it is. placed in the College under the title of the Couper Col- 
lection. At the same Show, Mr. Couper exhibited a case of Insert 
Architecture, containing nests, transformations, habitations, and 
eggs of insects, with the excrescences produced on leaves and plants 
by their operations. This case was purchased by Mr. Hodgins ior 
the Museum of the Normal SchooL This interesting department 13 
divided into seven Orders. 

Order I. Coleoptera (Beetles.) 

Of this order alone, there are at least 5,000 species. The collec- 
tion already alluded to contained 1, 200, nearly all of winch vere 
taken by Mr. Couper himself in the vicinity of the city. Many of 
the beetles are very serviceable by preying upon caterpillars, plant- 
Numbers of them live 



NATTJKAL HISTOET. 65 

entirely on mushrooms, toadstools, and other members of the agaric 
family, many of them poisonous, and which in a state of decay are 
offensive. Others live under the bark and in the trunks of old trees 
and hasten their decay. One species of the genus Cantharididce, 
the blistering beetle, has for a long time been employed by the medi- 
cal faculty. But there are others which are extensively injurious. 

Of late years, the gardeners in the City and neighborhood have 
been vexed and annoyed by several insect plagues belonging to this 
order, which have in a very unceremonious way despoiled the fruit 
trees of their foliage and their crops, and seemingly defy all attempts 
at extermination. The plum crop more especially is often entirely 
ruined by the depredations of these insects. The Plum Weevil, or 
Curculio, as it is sometimes called, — Hhynchanus Nenuphar y — is a 
little, rough, dark brown, or blackish beetle, about one-fifth of an 
inch long. They make their appearance here towards the latter part 
of April, and remain till July. Soon after the blossom falls from 
the plum tree, they begin to puncture the little plums with their 
curved snout, and lay an egg in the wound. From one plum they 
go to another until their store of eggs is exhausted^, and very rarely 
is there more than one egg in a plum. From this egg a little whitish 
grub, very much like a maggot in appearance, is hatched. It imme- 
diately eats towards the centre of the fruit until it has reached the 
stone; and the plums drop off before having reached one-fourth their 
natural size. When the fruit falls, the grub leaves it and burrows 
in the ground, where it remains for about three weeks, when, 
having completed its transformations, it comes out of the ground in 
the beetle form. Our gardeners recommend shaking the trees 
briskly every morning and evening, when these insects first appear 
and are laying their eggs. When disturbed in this way they fall off 
and may be caught in a sheet spread under the tree, and should be 
immediately put into the fire. Syringing the young fruit with a 
coating of whitewash or tobacconist's liquor mixed with sulphur and 
soft soap, is also recommended as an infallible remedy. 

The Turnip-fly, or flea-beetle, one of the family of the Chrysomelian 
tribe, and generically termed Halticadse, is a most destructive insect, 
laying waste entire fields of turnip. When the ground begins to 
get warm and yield to the genial influences of spring, these little 
pests come up out of the earth and devour the seedling leaves as the 
plants spring up, — and they continue their ravages throughout the 
summer. Cabbage, mustard, cress, radish, and other plants of that 
family, are subject to attack from one or other of these flea-beetles. 

The Wheat Weevil, the Sitophilus granarice, of Linnaeus, belongs 



66 TOEOFTO. 

to this order. It is very fully described by Harris in his valuable 
work on Insects. This weevil, about which so much has been said 
and written of late, is stated by those who have studied its nature 
and instincts not to be common in Canada, and, if found at all, only to 
be detected in stores where grain has been kept for a length of time. 
In this order are also found the wood-ticks, which include in their 
number the ominous Death- Watch (Anobium tasselatum), which has 
made many an otherwise stout heart quail. This little timber-borer 
is purely European, but we have it in abundance, introduced un- 
doubtedly, — as Le Conte so conclusively reasons with regard to the 
importation of other insects, — in the articles of furniture which from 
time to time have been brought across the Atlantic. 

Order II. Orthoptera (Cockroaches, Crickets, Grasshoppers, &c.) 

The Orthopterous insects found in our vicinity belong principally 
to the grasshopper family. They are not much sought after for 
collections. All the insects of this order, except the Camel Cricket 
(Mantidw), which preys on other insects, are injuriuos in our houses 
or destructive to vegetation. In the collection alluded to there 
were only 24 species. 

Order III. Hemiptera (Bugs, Locusts, Plant-lice, &c. &c.) 

This order includes many insects of much service in the arts, 
affording us the Cochineal dye, scarlet grain, lac and manna ; but 
the numerous tribe of plant-bugs, plant-lice, &c. &c. , that suck the 
juices of plants, require the greatest care to keep them in check. 
Mr. Couper's collection contained 65 species. 

Order IV. Neuroptera (Dragon-flies, Lace- winged Flies, May- 
flies, Day-flies, White Ants, &c. <fcc.) 

There are none of the insects of this order injurious to living 
plants ; they are nearly all predaceous, living on gnats, mosquitoes, 
and other insects. The greater number are aquatic, and live upon 
aquatic insects. Only about 30 species have been collected. 

Order V. Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths). 

There are many beautiful specimens of this order to be found in 
our vicinity. Among the butterflies there are, the 

Black S wallow-Tail Papilio asterias. 

Tiger " ■ turnns. 

Border Butterfly Limenitis artemis. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 67 

Camberwell Beauty Vanessa Antiopa. 

Storm Fritillai y Danais Archippus. 

Pearl-border Fritillary A< gynnis. 

Clouded Yellow Fritillary Colias Phylodoce: 

Small Copper " Chrysophanus phloeas. 

Puny Thecle Thee! a acis. 

Happy Butterfly Eudamus Tityrvs. 

Semicolon Butterfly Vanessa inter rogationis. 

Progne Butterfly " progne. 

Potherb Pontia Pontia casta. 

The most attractive moths are Attactis Cecropia, AUacus Luna, 
Attacus Polyphemus, AUacus Promethea, Arctia Virgo, Catocala 
JEpione, Catocala Amasia, Dryocarnpa pellucida, Orgyia Leucostigma 
Sphinx quiiiquemaciilatus, the five-spotted Sphinx. This beautiful 
moth measures about five inches across the wings. It is of a gray 
color, variegated with blackish lines and bands, and on each side of 
the body there are five round orange-colored spots, encircled with 
black, from which it has received the name of the five-spotted sphinx. 
Sesia pelasgus ; the caterpillar of this moth feeds on the potato. 
Three species of JEgeria, several species of Agrotis, and an abundance 
of the Tinese, among which are the clothes-moth (Tinea Vestianella), 
the carpet moth (Tinea tapetzella), the fur moth (Tinea pellionella), 
the hair moth (Tinea Crinella), the grain moth (Tinea granella), 
<fcc. &c. 

The apple worm (Carpocapsa pomonella) has become naturalized 
wherever the apple tree has been introduced, and is very injurious 
to the fruit. During the latter part of June and the month of July, 
the apple worm moths, — which are the most beautiful of the beautiful 
tribe to which they belong, — fly about the apple trees every evening 
and drop their eggs one by one into the eye or blossom of the apple, 
where they are hatched in a few days, and the worms eat their way 
into the apples towards the core. The fruit ripens prematurely and 
falls off before attaining its full size. As the worms instinctively 
leave the apples soon after they fall, the wind-fallen apples should be 
gathered daily and l ' used up " in such a way as to kill the insects 
before they have time to escape. It is recommended also to hang 
any old cloth in the crotches of the trees, as the apple worms that 
leave the fruit before it falls will conceal themselves therein, and in 
this way thousands of them may be taken and destroyed. 

The American tent-caterpillar (Clisiocampa Americana) is very 
destructive to apple-trees, stripping them sometimes of their entire 
foliage. They are, however, easily destroyed, if proper care is 
taken. The caterpillars make a web for their shelter in the branches 



68 TORONTO. 

of the trees, where their larvae are reared, and issue forth to feed 
upon the tender foliage. The most effectual remedy is to crush them 
in their nests. 

Order VI. Hymenoptera (Saw-flies, Ants, Wasps, Bees). 

This order is very numerous, and includes many insects that are 
exceedingly interesting in their operations and highly serviceable to 
man. The gall-flies (Diplalepididm) furnish the gall-nuts, so useful 
in coloring and in medicine, and which form the chief ingredient in 
ink. The wasps and hornets (Palistes and Vespa) show us that paper 
can be manufactured without the aid of old rags ; while from the 
bees (Apis milifica) we have an abundant store of wax and honey. 
Upwards of 200 species have been taken in the vicinity. 

To this order belong, however, several insects that are very 
injurious to vegetation. 

The pear-slug (Selandria Cerasi), or, as some of our naturalists 
prefer (Blennocampa Cerasi), is very injurious to the pear trees 
when allowed to ravage at will ; but it is easily destroyed. They 
live upon the upper side of the leaves of the pear and cherry trees, 
eating away the substance and leaving the veins and skin untouched. 
Sometimes twenty or thirty of them may be seen on a single leaf. 
They are loathsome slimy creatures, and, when numerous, infest the 
air with a disagreeable sickening odor. They are destroyed by 
dusting ashes or quicklime on the trees with a sieve fastened to the 
end of a pole. 

The rose-slug, or Saw-fly of the Rose (Selandria JRosce), seems to 
have been more injurious during the present year to the rose-bushes 
in the city than at any former time. Even the rose-bushes in the 
ornamental grounds of the Normal School, where every possible care 
is bestowed to present nature in her most attractive forms, as well as 
those in many private gardens in the northern parts of the City, 
have been completely scathed by these pernicious insects. These 
saw-flies come out of the ground at various times between the middle 
of May and the middle of June, when they lay their eggs in the 
leaves and the young are shortly hatched, and commence their 
destructive operations, eating away the upper surface of the leaves 
so effectually that the entire foliage looks as if it had been scorched 
by fire. Dusting linie over the plants, when wet with dew, has been 
found of use ; but the most effectual remedy is what is known as 
Haggerston's Mixture — a mixture of whale-oil soap and water, in the 
proportion of two pounds of soap to fifteen gallons of water. 



STATISTICS. 69 

Order VII. Diptera — Mosquitoes, Gnats, Flies, &c. 

This order is also numerous. Upwards of 200 species have been 
taken in the vicinity. It includes the flies that are so extensively 
injurious to our wheat crops. The weevil, a small beetle which is 
blamed with all the mischief, has already been noticed under its 
respective head. It is to the Wheat Midge and the Hessian Fly 
(the Cecidomyia tritici and the Cecidomyia destructor), however, 
that the farmer must look as the destroyers of his crops. 

To this order also belongs that little pest, the mosquito, an insect 
known so extensively by experience in some parts of the city. There 
are many species of mosquitoes, but, from the annoyance and actual 
pain which they are alleged to cause, I think they may all be classed 
under the term Culex excrucians. 

There are some minor divisions of the order Articulata ; but these 
seven include all the varied species, although some Naturalists have 
arranged some of them under different heads. 

Class VI. Mollusca. 

We pass with a simple notice the Molluscous series of animals. The 
range of forms comprehended in this class is so extensive, ramified, 
and excessively minute, that it would have required considerably 
more time to bring it within our present compass than we can at 
present bestow, and any sketch hurriedly prepared would have been 
necessarily imperfect. We have a great many members of the 
family of the Nayades, or fresh- water Mussels — the shells of some 
of which are very beautiful. We have also a few species of Cyclas, 
and a few land and fresh- water Snails, which at some future time 
may be more minutely referred to. The most interesting and at- 
tractive forms of our Fauna have been treated of as fully as the 
limits of this work would admit, the less attractive forms must 
necessarily pass with a single remark. 



SECTION IV.— STATISTICS. 

In 1791, with a "view to allay the bitterness of feeling which had 
begun to spring up in Canada between the French Canadians and 
the settlers of British origin, the Province of Quebec, then contain- 
ing a population of 150,000, was, by virtue of an Act of the Imperial 
Parliament, divided into two separate 



70 TORONTO. 

tively, Upper Canada and Lower Canada. John Graves Simcoe, an 
English military gentleman who had served in the American war, 
and had subsequently occupied a seat in the House of Commons and 
supported Mr. Pitt's Bill for the division of the Province, was appoint- 
ed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada — the population of which 
was estimated at somewhere about 20,000 — while Lord Dorchester, 
who, from 1787, had been Governor General of all the British North 
American Provinces, conducted the affairs of Lower Canada more 
immediately, although still retaining his position of Governor 
General. 

On the 1st of May, 1792, Governor Simcoe sailed from London 
with a staff of officials to administer the affairs of the Province. He 
arrived in Upper Canada on the 8th of July, and took up his resi- 
dence in Newark (now Niagara) then the most central and most 
populous portion of the country. Here he summoned Ms first par- 
liament to meet on the 17th of September, — the House of Assembly 
consisting of sixteen representatives chosen by the people ; the 
Upper House of half that number, appointed by the Crown for life. 
The session closed on the 15th of October, the Legislature having 
in that brief space passed several important measures, one of which 
introduced English Civil Law, another established Trial by Jury, 
and a third provided for the building of Jails and Court Houses, 
and such public buildings as were considered requisite in the four 
districts into which the Upper Province was divided. In the con- 
cluding paragraph of Ms Speech with wMch he closed the first par- 
liament, we have a glimpse of the moral stamina of the Governor : 
1 1 1 cannot dismiss you without earnestly desiring you to promote by 
precept and example, among your respective Counties, the regular 
habits of piety and morality, the surest foundations of all private 
and public felicity. " 

The next point of importance for the Governor's consideration 
was the selection of a Seat of Government, a question at all times 
seemingly surrounded with difficulties. Lord Dorchester had Ms 
Head Quarters at Quebec, the only place then considered capable of 
defence ; and he would appear to have demanded that Kingston 
should be selected as the capital of Upper Canada, a settlement hav- 
ing already been made there. But Governor Simcoe had a mind 
and a will of his own, wliich neither the greater proximity to Quebec, 
nor the convenience of obtaining orders and news more rapidly from 
Europe, which Kingston presented, could influence ; and as Newark 
lay within range of the American Fort on the opposite bank of the 
river, and was not, therefore, the most appropriate place, he jfixed 



STATISTICS. 71 

upon the site on which Toronto now stands as the scene of his future 
administrative operations, and carried out his determination irres- 
pective of the opposition which he had to encounter. 

From the arrangements and plans which the Governor formed, 
the development of the resources of the country seems to have been 
the leading idea in his mind, and undoubtedly the magnificent har- 
bour formed by nature at the very point at which he looked for an 
outlet to the trade of the north, was not the least attractive feature 
in the rude scene which presented itself to his keen scrutinizing eye, 
as he made his selection of this spot as his capital. Colonel Bou- 
chette, Surveyor General of Lower Canada, and then engaged in the 
naval service of the Lakes, was selected to make the first survey of 
the harbour of York, as the place was then named by Governor 
Simcoe. In looking back upon that time (1793) he says: " I still 
distinctly recollect the untamed aspect which the country exhibited 
when first I entered the beautiful basin which then became the scene 
of my early hydrographical operations. Dense and trackless forests 
lined the margin of the Lake, and reflected their inverted images in 
its glassy surface. The wandering savage had constructed his ephe- 
meral habitation beneath their luxuriant foliage — the group then 
consisting of two families of Mississaguas — and the Bay and neigh- 
bouring marshes were the hitherto uninvaded haunts of immense 
coveys of wild fowl. In the spring following the Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor removed to the site of the new capital, attended by the Regi- 
ment of Queen's Rangers, and commenced at once the realization of 
his favorite project." 

The building of the Town of York may be said to have commenced 
in 1794, under all the disadvantages which an unhealthy locality, 
described as better fitted "for a frog pond or a beaver meadow than 
for the residence of human beings" would necessarily present. The 
spot which the Governor selected for his own residence was on the 
high ground north of the old Don and Danf orth Road, overlooking 
the "flats" or valley of the Don — decidedly the most romantic and 
picturesque spot in the vicinity of Toronto. The log-house in which 
he established himself, and which was named Castle Frank, — after one 
of the members of his family, — was destroyed by fire upwards of thirty 
years ago ; but the residence of Mr. Francis Cayley, erected near the 
site of the old castle, still bears, and very appropriately, the name of 
Castle Frank. 

While the public buildings were progressing, Parliament continued 
to meet at Newark until 1796, when Governor Simcoe, who does not 
seem to have been subservient enough, was re-called. Mr. Peter 



72 TOEONTO. 

Russell, the senior member of the Executive Council, a gentlemrn 
who had come out with Governor Simcoe, and who to his other 
duties added those of Inspector General, assumed the direction of 
public affairs during the interregnum. He convened the Parliament 
at York on the 6th of June, 1797, the buildings for their reception 
having been completed during Governor Simcoe's administration, 
although, from the representations of interested parties, he was re- 
called ere yet he had enjoyed the pleasure of meeting his Parliament 
in their new chambers, erected on the spot he had so judiciously 
selected as the capital of Upper Canada. President Russell's first 
parliament was prorogued on the 30th of July, but he continued to 
preside over the administration of affairs until 1799, assembling the 
Legislature at York on the 5th of June, 1798, and on the 12th of 
June, 1799. 

Peter Hunter was appointed meanwhile as Lieutenant Governor, 
and arrived at the capital after the parliament of 1799 had been pro- 
rogued. Governor Hunter having been recalled in 1805, Mr. Alex- 
ander Grant presided over the affairs of the province until the arrival 
of Francis Gore, who had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor. In 
1811, Governor Gore returned to England on leave of absence, 
entrusting Major General Brock with the temporary charge of the 
public affairs. 

Meanwhile the number of houses in York was increasing, although 
the early settlers seem to have experienced considerable difficulty 
with regard to roads from the marshy nature of the soil at the 
eastern part of the "clearing," which was then the nucleus of the 
little town. Yonge street, north to Holland River, thirty miles in a 
direct line, thence to Lake Simcoe, was opened out and formed by 
the Queen's Rangers, and was one of the first works undertaken by 
Governor Simcoe, and is a monument of the prudence and discern- 
ment with which his plans were formed. But the town was so far 
to the east of Yonge street that the farmers experienced great incon- 
venience in threading their way through stumps and pitfalls from 
this great thoroughfare to the infant capital. 

Mr. George Heriot, Deputy Postmaster General of British North 
America, in his "Travels through the Canadas," thus writes of York 
in 1806 : " The town of York, according to the plan, is projected to 
extend a mile and a half, from the bottom of the harbour along its 
banks. Many houses are already completed, some of which display 
a considerable degree of taste. The advancement of this place to its 
present condition has been effected within the lapse of six or seven 
years, and persons who have formerly travelled in this part of the 



STATISTICS. 73 

country are impressed with sentiments of wonder on beholding a town 
which may be termed handsome, reared as if by enchantment in the 
midst of a wilderness. Two buildings of brick at the eastern extre- 
mity of the town, which were designed as wings to a centre, are 
occupied as Chambers for the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly. 
The scene from this point of the basin is agreeable and diversified." 

For several years from this time the town seems to have progressed 
in the same enchanting way, but the baleful influence of the war of 
1812, as it is chronologically termed, dispelled the charm. The only 
incident in connection with 1812 in which we are interested is the 
death of the gallant General Brock, to whom Lieutenant-Governor 
Gore had entrusted, temporarily, the direction of public affairs. 
This melancholy event occurred on the 13th of October, 1812, at the 
battle of Queenstown Heights. The Americans, under General Van 
Rensselaer, had gained possession of the Heights, and General Brock, 
having come suddenly up from Niagara, resolved to check their pro- 
gress ; but advancing with too small a force, he was repulsed and 
killed, * his brillant carreer being terminated by a ball from one of 
the American riflemen. Brock was held in very high esteem both as 
a soldier and a civil Governor. He was descended from a respectable 
family in Guernsey, had been at Copenhagen with Nelson, and had 
served in several campaigns in Europe. The Indians regarded him 
with the utmost veneration, as a brave and gallant warrior. He fell 
at the early age of 42, and as an honorable testimony to his personal 
worth a monument was erected on the spot, and his remains, and 
those of his gallant aid-de-camp, Colonel McDonnell, were deposited 
therein. 

On the death of Brock, Major General Sheaffe, an American by 
birth, assumed the chief command, and unfortunately retained that 
command, during the campaign of 1813. On the 25th of February, 
the Parliament was convened by General Sheaffe, and several impor- 
tant measures were passed, one of which prohibited distillation from 
grain as a scarcity of food was apprehended in consequence of the. 
war. Another prohibited the sale of liquors to Indians. The Ameri-. 
cans not having been quite so successful in the campaign of 1812 as 
they had calculated upon, mustered new strength in 1813 to make^ 
the conquest of Canada sure. The army of the north, one of the 
divisions of the American force, was placed under the command of 
General Dearborn, to whom was entrusted the task of subduing 
Western Canada. According to arrangement therefore, General 



* Murray's British America. Edinburgh, 1839. 



74 TORONTO. 

Dearborn with 1600 men* embarked at Sackett's Harbour,— a naval 
depot on the southern shore of Lake Ontario,— with Commodore 
Chauncey, and sailed on the 25th of April, 1813, for York. The capital 
was then ill prepared for resistance, scarcely at all fortified, and de- 
fended by General Sheaffe with only about 600 men. On the morn- 
ing of the 27th the fleet reached the harbour, and succeeded in 
landing. The General remained on board, entrusting the command 
to General Pike, a young officer of distinction, who had planned the 
attack. The fire from the fleet silenced very speedily the batteries 
on shore, and enabled General Pike to proceed with little difficulty. 
But after he had carried the first line of defences, the explosion of 
the powder magazine, which had been fired by an artillery sergeant 
to prevent its falling into the hands of the Americans,, completely 
destroyed the advanced portion of Pike's column, killing and wound- 
ing 260 men. Among the wounded was the gallant young General 
Pike, but he died in a few hours after the explosion. Sheaffe seems 
to have become faint-hearted at the appearance of the superior num- 
bers of the American force, and having destroyed the naval stores, 
he retired towards Kingston, leaving Colonel Chewett of the militia 
to treat with the invaders. The consequence was that the town was 
taken, the public buildings burned, and such stores as could not be 
carried off were destroyed. Frost says that the Government Hall 
was burned contrary to the orders of the American General. We 
have simply to do with the fact that it was burned. After burning 
all the public buildings, they carried off the artillery and naval stores, 
and by the 1st of May evacuated the place, f We have refrained 
from giving details as to the numbers of killed and wounded, because 
no two authorities agree, and as a matter of course we cannot vouch 
for the accuracy of either. Nor does it now signify much ; the bare 
fact is all that we have to do with, and the injurious effects it had 
upon the rising capital. One capture made shortly after this occur- 
rence, is still preserved sacred as a trophy of the raid. This was a 
fire engine presented to the inhabitants by Lieutenant Governor 
Major General Hunter, in 1802. It is now kept by the United 
States Government, in the Navy Yard, having been taken by one 
Robert H. Mcols on the 13th October, 1813. When our Museum 
°f Arts and Manufactures is fairly established, I hope the President 
of the Board will respectfully request the United States authorities 
to return the engine, that the old "Blackfriar" may fill up an 
empty corner. 



• Frost's History of the United States. London, 183S. 

t James's Military occurrences of the Late War. London, 1818. 



STATISTICS. 75 

Major General Sheaffe having sunk considerably in public estima- 
tion by his lame defence of York, was shortly after this occurrence 
superseded by Major General de Rottenburg, to whom was 
entrusted the chief command in Upper Canada. Again, however, 
did the capital suffer from the ruthless hand of the spoiler. The 
Glengarry Fencibles by a rapid movement from York, checked 
the Americans in their attempts to destroy the military depot 
and stores at Burlington Heights ; but they left the capital de- 
fenceless, and Commodore Chauncey taking advantage of this move- 
ment, landed a body of troops here on the 23rd July, 1813, who 
without opposition set fire to the barracks and public storehouses, 
liberated the prisoners from the jail, ill-treated some of the inhabi- 
tants, and retired with the few stores they could find. * 

About the middle of December, 1813, Lieutenant General Sir 
Gordon Drummond arrived at York to assume the direction of pub- 
lic affairs, civil and military, Governor Gore not having yet returned 
from England. General Drummond lost no time in proceeding to 
the head quarters of the army, near Queenston, and assisted materi- 
ally in closing successfully the campaign of 1813. On the 15th of 
February, 1814, he assembled Parliament at the capital, and several 
necessary measures were passed, one of which authorized the appro- 
priation of £6,000 for roads and bridges. On the 24th of December 
the Treaty of Ghent fortunately put a termination to the hostilities 
which had distracted the two countries, and during which the pro- 
gress of York had not only been checked but its public buildings 
destroyed. On the 3rd of April, 1815, His Excellency Sir George 
Prevost, Governor General of Canada, having returned to England 
to answer to some charges affecting his military character, Sir Gordon 
Drummond was appointed Governor General and assumed the direc- 
tion of government in Lower Canada, Generals Murray and Robin- 
son administering the affairs of Upper Canada until the return of 
Lieutenant Governor Gore about the end of 1815. 

On the 6th of February, 1816, Parliament assembled and passed 
several important measures. One of these laid the foundation of 
our Common School System, appropriating the sum of £600 per 
annum to assist in paying the salaries of the teachers, and in pur- 
chasing books for the use of the schools ; another appropriated £800 
for the purchase of a Library for the use of the members of both 
Houses. 

Lieutenant Governor Gore having been recalled, Sir Peregrine 
Maitland arrived in Canada on the 29th of July, 1818, to direct the 



* McMullen's History of Canada, p, 274. 



76 TORONTO. 

affairs of the Upper Province. Meanwhile the little capital was be- 
ginning to recover from the disasters of the war. Talbot speaking 
of its appearance in 1821, says : "The town now contains 1336 inhab- 
itants, and abont 250 houses, many of which have a very agreeable 
appearance. The public edifices are a Protestant Episcopal Church, 
a Roman Catholic Chapel, a Presbyterian Meeting House, a Metho- 
dist Meeting House, the Hospital, the Parliament House, and the 
residence of the Lieutenant Governor. The Episcopal Church is a 
building devoid of decoration, constructed of wood, with a belfry of 
wood. The Roman Catholic Chapel, which is not yet completed, it 
is proposed to make very magnificent. The Parliament House, built 
in 1820, is a long and commodious building, built with brick, and 
with much simplicity. The York Hospital is the most important 
building of the Province. It has a fine exterior. w * 

I have not met with any published account of the town of York 
of a later date than that of Talbot, just quoted, with the exception 
of the record that in the early part of January, 1825, the Parliament 
House, which Talbot speaks of as having been built "with much 
simplicity," was destroyed by fire, the library and furniture how- 
ever were saved. The loss was estimated at £2000. From this 
time the progress of the Town became more rapid, and fortunately 
the agues, chills, and fevers with which in past times the inhabi- 
tants were afflicted, are now matters of history, and every one who 
takes a calm survey of the location of the city with its admirable har- 
bor, must be struck with the sound judgment and great sagacity 
which Governor Simcoe displayed in his selection, even although 
the formation of a settlement in a swampy hollow could not fail to 
be prejudicial to the health and comfort of the early settlers. 

Sir Peregrine Maitland continued to administer the affairs of 
Upper Canada from 1818 to 1828, whence he was removed to Nova 
Scotia. Party feeling seems to have run very high towards the 
close of Sir Peregrine's administration. He was succeeded in the 
administration by Sir John Colborne, who arrived at the Seat of 
Government in November, 1828. The legacy of discontent which 
had been left him by his predecessor was by no means an enviable 
one, if we may judge from the address which the Assembly present- 
ed in reply to Sir John's speech at the opening of the House on the 
9th of January, 1829. One portion of that address runs thus : — 
11 We His Majesty's faithful Commons, confiding in the candour of 
your Excellency and in your readiness to recognise us as constitu- 
tional advisers of the Crown, do humbly pray your Excellency 

* Talbot's five Years in America. 



STATISTICS. 77 

against the injurious policy hitherto pursued by the Provincial Ad- 
ministration ; and although we at present see your Excellency un- 
happily surrounded by the same advisers as have so deeply wounded 
the feelings and injured the best interests of the country, yet in the 
interval of any necessary change, we entertain an anxious belief 
that under the auspices of your Excellency the administration of 
justice will rise above suspicion ; the wishes and interests of the 
people be properly respected, and the revenues of the Colony be 
hereafter devoted to objects of public improvement, after making 
provision for the public service on a basis of economy suited to the 
exigencies of the country." To this rather reflective address the 
Governor very sagaciously replied : — "It is less difficult to discover 
the traces of political dissensions and local jealousies in this Colony 
than to efface them. I anticipate that the principles of the Consti- 
tution being kept steadily in view, the good sense of the people will 
neutralize the efforts of any interested faction." I have made this 
brief quotation that it may serve as a key to the party spirit which 
then prevailed, and which increased in intensity until it led to the 
use of very unconstitutional means to obtain a redress of grievances 
which were declared to exist. 

In 1835, Sir John Colborne was recalled, and Sir Francis Bond 
Head, Assistant Poor Law Commissioner for the District of Kent, 
a half-pay military Major,* was appointed his successor. He ar- 
rived at the Seat of Government about the end of January, 1836, 
and remained there till towards the middle of March, 1838, little 
more than two years, and yet during that time the Rebellion of 
1837, as it is termed, had occurred, and the feelings of the people 
were very much exasperated. A very fair account of this unwise 
attempt on the part of Mackenzie and his friends to remedy their 
grievances is given in McMullen's Canada. It is beyond the scope 
of this work to do more than simply chronicle the fact. But we 
cannot look back upon the derangement to society then caused, and 
the antagonistic feelings which must have been aroused, without re- 
gretting that Britain should occasionally be so unwise as to send 
men here as Governors of Canada who are neither fitted by natural 
endowments nor by education, nor by experience, for the honour- 
able performance of the important duties devolving upon them, 
Sir Francis Bond Head, in his own "Narrative," thus speaks of 
his entering upon his responsible duties — " As I was no more con- 
nected with human politics than the horses that were drawing 
me — as I never had joined any political party, had never attended 

* McMullen, p. 408. 



78 TOBONTO. 

a political discussion, had never even voted at an election, nor taken 
any part in one, it was with no little surprise I observed the walls 
placarded with large letters which designated me as ' Sir Francis 
Head, a tried Reformer. 7 " And yet this was the man sent at a 
troublous, disaffected period in the history of Canada, to reconcile 
divergent sentiments, allay the animosities caused by intense anta- 
gonistic political feeling, and develope the resources of an extensive 
country. 

Sir Francis was succeeded by Sir George Arthur, who arrived at 
the Seat of Government on the 23rd of March, 1838, and held 
office till April, 1841, when the re-union of the two Provinces hav- 
ing been consummated, the Seat of Government was removed to 
Kingston, and Mr. Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord Sydenham, 
who had succeeded Sir John Colborne as Governor General in Octo- 
ber, 1839, having assumed the administration of the affairs of the 
United Provinces, convened the first united Parliament at Kings- 
ton, on the 13th of June, 1841. Our connection with the Legis- 
lature was thus terminated until in 1850, when in consequence 
of the riots in Montreal, and the burning of the Parliament 
buildings in 1849, the Legislature decided to meet for two years 
in Toronto, then four years alternately in Quebec and Toronto. 
In 1852, therefore, the Legislature was convened at Quebec, 
and in 1856 it again returned to Toronto, which is at the present 
time the Seat of Government. We now retrace our steps to note 
the progress of the capital prior to the unfortunate rebellion. 

In 1834, when York had outgrown the proportions and considera- 
tion of a mere town, it was incorporated as a city under the sonorous 
name Toronto — "the place of meeting" — by which the locality, as 
tradition says, had been known amongst the aborigines. From this 
time forward its progress has been rapid. In 1844, ten years after 
its incorporation, the population had nearly doubled, being 18,420. 
According to the general census of 1851, the population of the City 
of Toronto was 30,775, and was composed of English, 4,958 ; Scotch, 
2,169 ; Irish, 11,305. Natives not of French origin, 9,956 ; natives 
of French origin, 467 ; Americans, 1,405. Since that census was 
taken, the gross population has increased nearly 20,000, and we may 
suppose that each distinct nationality has increased in a respective 
ratio. 

The Religious persuasions as given in the general census of 1851, 
are as follows : 

Church of England 11,577 

Church of Scotland. * 1,061 



STATISTICS. 79 

Church of Rome 7,940 

Free Church, Presbyterian 2,137 

Other Presbyterians 1,346 

Wesleyan Methodists 3,251 

Episcopal Methodists 132 

New Connexion Methodists 257 

Other Methodists 483 

Baptists 948 

Lutherans 40 

Congregationalists . . . . , 646 

Quakers , 12 

Jews 57 

Universalists 23 

Unitarians 178 

Not known 269 

No creed given 418 

That list, although admittedly correct at the time, gives but an 
inadequate idea of the numbers connected with the various religious 
denominations at the present. The Methodists, as a body, have 
built several new churches in the city since then, and may be con- 
sidered to have increased more largely in ratio than any of the other 
denominations. An analysis of William Brown's City Directory for 
1856, gives the number of persons employed in the professions and 
trades as follows : 

Accountants and Land Agents. 18 Carriagemakers 16 

Architects 11 Carters 137 

Artists 13 Chemists and Druggists 24 

Bakers 37 Civil Engineers and Surveyors . 23 

Bankers 11 Clerks 119 

Barristers and Solicitors 108 Clergymen of all denominations 57 

Basketmakers 2 Confectioners 28 

Blacksmiths 96 Clock and Watch makers 10 

Bookbinders 8 Coopers 23 

Boot and Shoe makers . . . „ ... . 240 Cutlers 4 

Builders 66 Dressmakers and Milliners .... 62 

Butchers 66 Dry Goods' Merchants and Im- 

Brassfounders , 4 porters 103 

Brewers 15 Edge Tool makers 3 

Bricklayers 91 Engineers 48 

Brickmakers 55 Gardeners 61 

Brushtnakers 5 Grocers and Provision Dealers. 255 

Cabinetmakers 82 Hairdressers 23 

Cabmen and Proprietors ...... 33 Laborers 892 

Carpenters 496 Laundresses 40 



80 TOEONTO. 

Machinists 27 Saddlers 18 

Mariners 45 Seamstresses 14 

Masons 51 Shipwrights 5 

Millers 5 Soap and Candle makers 15 

Millwrights 5 Tailors 203 

Painters 84 Tailoresses 31 

Physicians 36 Tanners 2 

Plasterers 42 Tinsmiths 37 

Plumbers 16 Turners 14 

Printers 73 Waggonmakers 21 

This list does not embrace all the avocations followed in the city ; 
but it is sufficiently explicit for our present purpose. When classi- 
fied, it shows of professional persons, 427 ; of mechanical, 1681 ; 
and of industrial, other than mechanical, 2001. 

The number of houses in the city in 1857, was 7476, being an in- 
crease over 1856 of 601 dwellings, and of 3212 over 1850. The 
amount of real property in the city was valued by the assessors for 
1857 at £7,288,150, the yearly value of which for purposes of 
assessment was £437,289. The personal property was similarly 
valued at £1,296,616. The annual value of which for assessment 
purposes was £77,797, making a total assessment value of £515,086, 
or 6 per cent, of the estimated value of real and personal property 
belonging to the citizens, and yielding a gross amount of assessment 
for all purposes of £74,962. Independently of this real property in 
the hands of citizens, the city, as an incorporation, holds property 
in public buildings, water lots, <fec, valued in 1857 at £430,418. 

Our Social State. — It is perhaps as well to admit at the outset, 
that there is felt now and again the slightest possible deficiency in 
that geniality of disposition and temperament, — that hearty cordi- 
ality of manner, — which some older communities manifest. It is in 
point of fact often broadly stated that the people of Toronto- are not 
by any means so social as they might be ; with them the enjoyment 
of the social affections, that 

" Mysterious cement of the soul," 

is cramped by formality and chilled by etiquette ; and, even at its 
best estate, is very exclusive. We admit that, to the casual observer, 
this may be the case, and first impressions are not at all times easily 
erased, but that apparently ungenial temperament is undoubtedly 
the result of deeper and more sacred mental comniunings than those 
to which it is generally attributed. It may justly be ascribed, less 



STATISTICS. 81 

to any inherent or acquired snobbishness of feeling which makes 
some men think that they are something 

" Above the common level of their kind," 
than to the fact that our population is not only but of yesterday, — 
it is also very fluctuating. True, genuine, perennial sociality, is a 
plant of slow growth, and can only flourish in certain stages of 
society. The people who have snapped asunder all the ties of kin- 
dred, who have done violence to all the fond endearing associations 
which bound them with romantic enthusiasm to the place of their 
birth, — the hearths and the homes of their sires, — and have been 
rocked on the wide ocean that they might seek a home in the far 
West, — cannot again for years enjoy that elasticity of spirit, nor 
that sense of fixedness which form a basis for the cultivation of 
warm, lasting friendship. They have made one change, and they 
know not how soon they may make another ; and any feeling of 
sociality with them is but a fitful, transient gleam of the sunshine of 
the soul bursting through those endearing memories which link them 
so inseparably to the joys, the sorrows, and the early associations of 
their Fatherland, — 

'Tis evanescent, fleeting, transient, 

As the thin, fleecy clouds, which float around 

The setting sun's ethereal temple, 

As through the gorgeous golden peristyle, 

Paved with enamelled rr diance, he retires 

Amidst the dazzling splendors of his own 

Refulgent beams. 

Or if they succeed in business here, and have the prospect of perma- 
nency before them, the social feelings are too often kept subservient 
to the one grand aim of acquiring wealth and a name, in the land of 
their adoption. Whatever, therefore, does not either directly or 
incidentally conduce to this absorbing desire is left in abeyance until 
a more convenient season, and thus a state of mind is gradually 
superinduced, the very antithesis of sociality in its broad expansive 
sense. 

But, notwithstanding these admissions, Toronto in a social point 
of view presents rather an agreeable aspect. Benevolent and chari" 
table Institutions, Churches, Colleges, Institutes, Common Schools } 
and Educational establishments of higher pretensions, meet you at 
every turning. An air of quietness, order and respectability, per- 
vades the streets during the week ; and on the Sabbath-day the 
numerous Churches are comfortably filled. The Sabbath-schools 
connected with them have an interesting and healthful appearance, 
and there are many auxiliary or district Sunday-schools throughout 



82 TORONTO. 

the City for the benefit of those children, more especially, who are 
not placed either morally or physically in the most favorable circum- 
stances. Within these few years several Mutual Improvement and 
other ameliorating Societies have been formed with a view to direot 
the thoughts of our young men to subjects of lasting interest, and to 
prepare them for worthily filling the peculiar niche which an all- wise 
Providence may have marked out for them, for after all 

" We do but row, Fate guides the helm. M 

Altogether, then, the contour of our social arrangements is ex- 
ceedingly pleasing. 

Our mechanics and artizans earn good wages and live respectably, 
many of them on their own property, which the proceeds of a few 
years' steady employment, well husbanded, have enabled them to 
acquire. Our best and most successful mercantile and professional 
men are all self-made, and no one therefore claims priority of con- 
sideration. Those of a previous day, on whom fortune smiled so 
blandly as to enable them to retire from business pursuits with an 
easy competency, retain, with a few isolated exceptions, that frank- 
ness of manner for which they were characterized, when, exerting 
themselves to earn honorably their ample fee, or, standing behind the 
counter, using every effort to please and serve their customers. 

But as vice and demoralization are expected to prevail to a greater 
or less extent in every city, Toronto, unfortunately, forms no excep- 
tion to the general rule. There is a substratum of vice in our social 
fabric, which neither the influence of our Sabbath-schools nor all the 
eloquence and fervor of our pulpit ministrations, nor the cheering 
and benign effects of Mutual and Fellowhship Societies can reach ; 
and although it has been beautifully said 

" What would offend the eye in a good picture, 
The painter casts discreetly into shade," 

yet we must take this demoralization into account if we would view 
aright our social condition. Could it be reckoned up and statistically 
expressed, there might be some hope of making an approximate 
estimate of its amount. But the statistics of our crime convey but 
a very inadequate idea of its extent. We will glance at these, how- 
ever, as they are furnished by official authority, and are therefore, 
so far as they go, reliable. 

Nurseries or Crime. — During the past year we had upwards of 
500 licensed and unlicensed houses,— one for every fifteen families,— 
engaged in the sale of intoxicating drinks, and, as the necessary 
result of their operations, our Jail and Police statistics present 



STATISTICS. 83 

rather an appalling and humiliating picture of our every-day life. 
No one would imagine, in walking along King street of an afternoon, 
amidst the display of beauty, fashion and gaiety, which are then 
exhibited, that one out of every nine of our population was brought 
up before the police magistrate during the past year, for some mis- 
demeanor growing out of our drinking customs. Yet such is the 
lamentable fact ; so that while ardent hopes and noble aspirations 
cheer and animate one portion of society, the other is left to grovel 
in the most pitiful debasement. 

Police Register. — It appears by the police statistics for the year 
ending December last, that 3,971 males and 1,025 females, — in all, 
4,996 persons, — being one in every nine of our population, — were 
arrested and brought before the police magistrate during the year 
1857. Of this number there are classed under the generic phrase, drunk 
and disorderly, 2,031 males and 673 females, — in all 2,704. To this 
number require to be added 420 for assault, 86 for keeping disorderly 
houses, — a class of houses alarmingly and unblushingly on the 
increase in the City, — 271 for threatening, — which is assault in its 
incipient stages, and 208 for selling intoxicating drink without 
license, making a total of 3, 709 as the direct result of the traffic in 
intoxicating liquors, — or more than three-fourths of the whole num- 
ber. By an analysis of the remaining fourth, it is very evident that 
but for intoxicating liquors the majority of the cases therein em- 
braced would never have occurred. 

Jail Record. — In the Jail Record for 1857 we have, under the 
head of " intemperate habits," 1,085 males and 526 females — in all 
1,611. The total number committed was 1,906 — 1,316 males and 
590 females — so that there are only 295 of the whole commitments, 
over and above those classed by the Governor of the Jail, as of intem- 
perate habits. The admirable manner in which the Record is kept 
gives further ground for comment on this sad state of things, for there 
are 175 stated as under 20 years of age, and therefore not within the 
scope of the designation habit and repute drunkards : leaving 
only 120 of the entire number committed to whom the designation 
of " intemperate habits" is not strictly applicable. And yet when 
you look over the list of offences, the assaults and threatenings, and 
trespasses, which, with the drunk and disorderly cases, form the bulk 
of the commitments, you are forced to the conclusion that the whole 
offences, so carefully enumerated, have one common parentage. 

It is worthy of remark, too, that the ratio, nationally speaking, is 
somewhat in keeping with the numbers contributed by each of the 



84 TORONTO. 

three great nationalities which comprise the bulk of our population. 
We have on that list 1,272 natives of Ireland : 793 males and 479 
females ; 282 from England : 231 males and 51 females ; and 131 
from Scotland : 109 males and 22 females. 

Such is the melancholy catalogue of the past year. Nor is it likely 
that the record of the present year will be more cheering. If the 
numbers deluded and ensnared by the evanescent exhilaration which 
intoxicating liquor imparts, bear any ratio to the facilities for obtain- 
ing intoxicants, there is great reason to fear that the criminal calen- 
dar of the present year, traced as impartially as that of the past year, 
will present a far gloomier aspect of our social state than the chronicle 
now commented on. The City Council By-law, passed in the early 
part of this year, proclaimed free trade in drink selling, and, as a 
necessary consequence, if we sow the wind we shall reap the whirl- 
wind. 

Have we already begun to reap a portion of that ungenial harvest 
in the swarms of beggars which now infest the city ? A few years 
ago such a thing was unknown. You might have passed from one 
end of the city to the other, at all hours of the day, without meeting 
with one suppliant for charity. Why has the scene so sadly 
changed that it attracts the attention of strangers and is heralded 
through the broadsheets of the neighboring republic that begging 
forms one of the distinctive features in our social state ? The cor- 
respondent of a New York paper thus alludes to it : "I am surprised 
at the number of beggars in Toronto. You cannot go into the streets 
without annoyance from them. If two persons stop to speak, they 
are sure to be joined in a few seconds by a beggar." These remarks 
from a stranger might easily be accounted for, even although begging 
was on a comparatively small scale, from the fact that if there are 
beggars in a city they are sure to be found at the doors of stage 
offices and hotels, where strangers congregate. 

This decay in social status has, however, attracted the attention of 
one of our city editors. He says : ' ' This beggar-nuisance is growing 
to be intolerable. Pass where you will, and often as you will, you 
are beset with some sturdy applicant for alms — they dodge you round 
corners, they follow you into shops, they are to be found at the 
church steps, they are at the door of the theatre, they infest the 
entrance to every bank, they crouch in the lobby of the post office, 
they assail you in every street, knock at your private residence, walk 
into your place of business, and beard you with a pertinacity that 
takes no denial. It may not be the few coppers, or the odd yorker, 
of which one is mulct, that makes this new curse intolerable. There 



STATISTICS. 85 

is a loathsomeness about the beggar's calling that makes the suppli- 
cation repulsive. But were this all, even this, disgusting as are the 
aids called in to excite our sympathies, might, with some little philo- 
sophy, be borne. The nuisance, however, is on its growth. In this, 
our good city of Toronto, beggary has assumed the dignity of a craft. 
Whole families sally forth, and have their appointed rounds — chil- 
dren are taught to dissemble — to tell a lying tale of misery and woe 
— and to beg or steal as occasion offers. To tolerate mendicancy is a 
false philanthropy. It is to nurture the germs of every vice that 
ever adorned the gallows — it is to commit a sin against the youthful 
poor, and to neglect the duty we owe to our neighbor and to our- 
selves. "* 

This is putting the matter in a somewhat broad light, but it may 
be perfectly orthodox in so far as the personal experience of the 
editor of the ' ' Colonist" is concerned, for he is rather complaisant 
and benevolent looking, dresses well, and very tastefully, and is just 
such a person as that shrewd and wily class would be ready to pounce 
upon with a certainty of success. It would be easy for the magis- 
trates to see that the police regulations were enforced in reference to 
this scandal upon our social arrangements, but a very little examina- 
tion into the aims, the associations, and the antecedents of these 
miserable creatures, would perhaps lead to the conclusion that this 
would not be striking at the root of the evil. A few days spent in 
the studio of the Police Magistrate will furnish a key to all this social 
derangement. One father brought up before His Worship for being 
drunk and disorderly, and committed to jail for one month, leaves, 
it may be, a wife and four or five children destitute of the means of 
living during that period, and the police regulations, taking cogni- 
zance only of offenders, the wretched creatures must either beg or 
steal till their natural protector is released. And when a dozen such 
unfeeling parents are brought up of a morning, as I have seen many 
a time, it is easy to understand why, in the necessary order of things, 
such a class should exist. It would be well, until some change is 
effected in our drinking customs, and in the facilities for obtaining 
intoxicating liquors, that all the money received from tavern licenses 
were put into a special fund for the support of that class of our 
citizens, because, in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred, they are 
reduced to that miserable necessity by the traffic in strong drink. I 
look forward hopefully to the dawn of a brighter day, when neither 
stranger nor resident will have an opportunity of publicly branding 
us because of the dilapidated state of our social fabric. 

* Daily Colonist, 4th August, 1858. 



86 TOEONTO. 

Our City Schools. — We have at present eight Common 
Schools in the City of Toronto. Six of these are large schools, each 
having a separate male and female department, sub-divided into 
junior, intermediate, and senior classes. The remaining two are 
small mixed schools of boys and girls in one department. The value 
of the schools, as a permanent investment, is thus given in reply to a 
motion by one of the School Trustees, on the 17th March, 1858 : — 

Ward of St. George '.—John Street School, 

Site, Building, Premises, Furniture, <fec, . . .£4,000 

Ward of St. Lawrence : — School Site, 

Recently purchased 650 

Ward of St. James : — Victoria Street School, 

Site, Buildings, Premises, <fcc , <fec 4,000 

Ward of St. John : — Louisa Street School, 

Site, Building, Premises, <fcc 2,250 

Ward of St. Patrick :— Phoebe Street School, 

Site, Building, Premises, &c, &c, £4,000, 

and Site for the Western School, £350 . . . 4,350 

Ward of St. David : — George Street School, 

Site, Building, &c, <fec, at £2,250, and the 
Park School Site, Building, Premises, <fec, 
Ac, £2,000 4,250 

Total £19,500 

The number of scholars entered upon the School Registers for 
1857 was 4,543—2,310 boys and 2,233 girls. The average monthly 
attendance, that is, of those who were present at school more or less 
during the month, was 2,480 ; but the average attendance for the 
year was only 1,863 — 1,023 boys and 840 girls. The highest number 
present in all the schools at any one time during the year 1857 was 
2,332 — 1,373 boys and 1,059 girls. This speaks rather unfavorably 
for our Free School System. With a school population of at least 
7,500, taking the low average of one child of school age to each 
house, we have a Free School Register of 4,543, and from that list 
an average attendance of only 1,863. It is no wonder that the 
Superintendent is forced to the conclusion that the result of the 
experiment of free schools is anything but encouraging or satisfactory. 
In 1844, with a population of 18,500, the average attendance of the 
city schools was 1,194, while in 1857, with a population of 45,000, 
the average attendance is only 1,863. The Model Schools established 
since then absorb 450 of the school population, 225 boys and 225 
girls, for their school register is always full. Several denominational 
schools and private academies have also been opened, and there is a 



STATISTICS. 



87 



number of private girls' schools opened since 1844. But while these 
various agencies may draw off a large number from the gross school 
population, they should in no way affect the attendance of those 
registered as belonging to the city Free schools. On this point the 
deficiency of the system is most apparent, the average attendance 
being in no way commensurate with the many facilities and induce- 
ments that are held out by these free schools. In a financial point 
of view the system is a failure, for while in 1844 the cost of the city 
schools was £1, 377 for 1, 194 pupils, or at the rate of £1 10s. per head, 
in 1857 the cost of the schools was £6,054 2s. 6d. for 1,863 pupils, or 
£3 5s. per head. In 1844 there were only twelve teachers employed ; 
in 1857 the number was thirty-six ; so that with a gross population 
more than double that of 1844, and a threefold complement of 
teachers, the number of children taught has not very greatly 
increased, certainly not in a corresponding ratio with the facilities 
provided. The following comparative statement from 1844 to 1857 
inclusive, will show the exact position we "occupy at the present 
time : — 



Tear. 


City 
Population. 


Average 
daily At- 
tendance. 


No, of 

Teachers. 


Total Cost of 
maintaining Sch'ls. 


Cost per 
Child. 


1844 


18,500 


1,194 


12 


£ 
4| months, 1,377 


^ 


1845 


19,706 


1,108 


12 


1,921 


For these 


1846 


20,565 


1,212 


12 


2,011 


7 years 


1847 


No census. 


1,265 


13 


1,871 


V the aver- 


1848 


23,503 


1,431 


13 


Half-year, 971 


age cost 


1849 


24,126 


1,325 


13 


Do 917 


was $6. 


1850 


25,766 


1,259 


15 


1,998 . 




1851 


30,763 


1,366 


16 


2,406 


• $^i 


1852 


35,000 


1,346 


16 


2,558 


1853 


40,000 


1,402 


20 


3,215 


8i 


1854 


No census. 


1,459 


21 


4,176 


m 


1855 


do 


1,570 


31 


5,218 


12i 


1856 


41,760 


1,747 


32 


5,642 


m 


1857 


45,000 


1,863 


36 


6,054 


13 



The figures here given do not include the sums paid for the 
new schools, but as they are considered worth their first cost as an 
investment, it is unnecessary to make any additions to the figures 
given in the table. Taking the annual expenditure only into 
account, the free school system on its present footing does not seem 
to meet the desired end. This fact has been frequently brought 



Note.— In 1844 the Schools were open only four and a half months. 
In 1848 and 1849 the Schools were open only six months in each year. 



88 TOEONTO. 

before the notice of the Trustees, but as yet no remedy has been 
provided. The Local Superintendent says — 

" If I understand aright the principle upon which free schools, 
maintained by general assessment upon property, have been estaK 
lished and are justified, it means that the rich ought to educate the 
poor, not as a charity, but because, in a social as well as a moral point 
of view, it is, as a mere matter of economy, better to educate than 
to punish at the public expense ; and because School-houses are better 
public investments than Penitentiaries or Jails. Tested by this prin- 
ciple, the result of our experiment, as regards even those children who 
have attended, though irregularly, our free schools, has been any- 
thing but encouraging or satisfactory, while as regards the education, 
moral and social, of those children, large in number, for whose 
training and reformation the free school principle is justified, we 
have failed altogether to bring that paHicular class of children, in 
any way at all within the restraining influences of our Schools. 
* * We set out, full of hope, to accomplish a certain purpose, 
namely, the universal education of the young, as a means of social 
and moral improvement among that class of people who, knowing 
little or nothing of the advantages of education, or who cared 
nothing for such advantages ; but thus far, after years of experience 
and the expenditure of increasing annual thousands of the public 
money, we have accomplished little more than a partial, and by no 
means a cheerful, recognition of the value of our Schools, even from 
those whose children to a limited extent do attend our Free Schools, 
while the more numerous, and at the same time more necessitous, 
class of children continue to frequent our streets, our lanes, and our 
wharfs, in idle swarms, growing up in ignorance and crime, 
the future abundant material for our police courts and prisons.*" 

To remedy the evil inevitably incident to a Free School system, 
a compulsory law, similar to that in the Massachusetts School 
system, has been recommended. Such a law would undoubtedly 
clear the wharfs and lanes of that class whose education at the 
present can only be in vice ; but whether it would suit the genius of 
our citizens as a body, and render more popular the present Free 
School system, admits of grave and serious doubts. It has been 
urged as a reason for the want of success, that ministers of religion 
seldom countenance the Schools, or endeavor to bring before their 
congregations the great advantages which are held out by these 
Schools ; while the clergy of the Church of England have sought to 
create a prejudice against them by representing them as devoid of 



* Superintendent's Report, 1st December, 1857. 



STATISTICS. 89 

religious instruction.* This may account to some extent for the 
smallness of the gross Register, but it can in no way account for the 
want of punctuality in those registered as pupils. There are certain 
prejudices which take hold of the mind, and, although they have 
little foundation, they are not easily eradicated. You cannot per- 
suade some persons, for example, that " Free Schools" do not mean 
" Charity Schools," and that, as a matter of necessity, if they are 
Charity Schools, the education given at them will not amount to 
much. These are simply prejudices which have not the slightest 
foundation in so far as the City Schools are concerned. Others 
again spurn the idea of educating their children at their neighbour's 
expense, and in the Model Schools we have this idea developed. In 
the Model School each pupil pays 7|-d. a week, and, although this is 
not equivalent to the advantages afforded, it is as much as is paid in 
many of the merely elementary Schools in London, and certainly as 
much as is paid in the generality of elementary schools in Scotland. 
This may account for the fact that the Model Schools are always 
well attended. 

From the decided opposition which the " Free Schools," in conse- 
quence of their present inadequate results, have received, it is 
evident that some change must shortly be made. It is worthy of 
the consideration of the Trustees, then, whether such a course as 
that adopted in the Model Schools might not be pursued with 
regard to the City Schools, and whether such a provision, if judici- 
ously engrafted upon our present system, would not be far more 
likely to secure a better and more cheerful attendance than any 
compulsory law, such as that referred to as existing in Massachu- 
setts, while at the same time for that neglected class to which a 
compulsory law might be somewhat of a mercy, provision could be 
made in the same way as is done in the Parochial Schools of Scot- 
land. 

Sunday Schools.-— As already stated, our Sabbath Schools have a 
healthy and interesting appearance. I have not considered it neces- 
sary to give the attendance at the several Schools separately, as any 
omission, however accidental, might be looked upon as invidious. 
Taking the Superintendents' lists as a guide, there are nearly 4,000 
boys and girls in regular attendance at these Schools, with a staff of 
Teachers numbering upwards of 500 ; and, amongst these, some of 
the most exemplary young men and young women in our community. 



Superintendent's Report, 6th May, 1856. 

G 



90 TORONTO. 

County Board of Public Instruction. — The County Board of 
Public Instruction is composed of the Trustees of Grammar Schools 
and the Local Superintendents of Common Schools for the time being. 
The meetings of the Board are held quarterly. The following is 
the list of Trustees for the City of Toronto Grammar School : 
Rev. John Jennings, D.D., Robert Cathcart, 
Rev. J. Barclay, D.D., J. McMurrich, 

Rev. H. J. Grasett, Dr. J. Hays. 

Expenses of Criminal Justice. — As the County Buildings are 
located in Toronto, and as the principal part of the Judicial business 
is there transacted, a statement of the estimated expense of Criminal 
Justice for 1858, is here submitted : 

Criminal Justice expenses, as in 1 857 $15,752 

Payment of jurors, sheriffs, &c, as in 1857 6,876 

Jury expenses, <fcc, as in 1857 2,544 

Constables not included in Criminal Justice expenses. . . 60 

Clerk of the Peace, general services same as 1857 656 

Crown witnesses, as in 1857 72 

Printing, advertising, &e 996 

Repairs to Jail and Court House 692 

High constable 400 

Debentures and interest 896 

Miscellaneous expenses, as in 1857 1,460 

Contingencies 600 

$31,004 
The total estimate of expenses is $45,188. As part of that be- 
longs strictly to the County proper, it is not here given. 

Trade Returns. — There were employed during the year 1857, in 
the trade of Toronto, 594,190 tons of shipping, analyzed as follows : 

- Tons. 

British Steam Vessels 284,026 

Sailing " 61,472 

Foreign Steam " 229,852 

" Sailing " 18,840 

Total 594,190 

In 1855, the total tonnage was 673,688 tons, shewing a decrease 
of 79,498 tons of shipping, which may be partially accounted for by 
the increase in railway traffic since that period. 

Customs Returns. — The total amount of duties collected at the 
port during the year 1857, was £144,727. In 1856, the amount was 



STATISTICS. 



91 



£195,159, shewing a decrease in the Revenue from that source alone 
at one port of £50,432. The following Table will show the total 
value of Imports and Exports from the year 1854 inclusive. 



Tear. 


Value of Imports. 


Duty. 


Value of Exports. 


1854 
1855 

1856 

1857 

June 30, '58. 


£1445183 7 9 
1373552 6 1 
1685959 1 10 
1325880 18 1 

$1442729.00 


£173588 9 1 
152585 17 3 
195159 
144727 14 6 

$16816083.00 


£273049 15 8 
404105 17 3 
551333 2 10 
163416 15 11 

$184513.00 




£360682 5 


£4204020 15 


£46528 5 



Banking Establishments. — During the recent commercial crisis, 
when every Bank in the neighboring State mingled with the general 
debris of commercial existence, the Banks of Toronto maintained 
their integrity. The inevitable contraction of banking facilities, 
however, pinched many of our business men very considerably, and 
forced them to the conclusion, that the principle upon which our 
Banks were based, was all well enough when trade was good, and 
little accommodation was required ; but now when commerce was 
prostrated, — and banking accommodation indispensable, — the Banks 
" were nowhere." Hedged in as our Banks were, by an unwise 
limitation to 6 per cent. , it was not to be expected that their opera- 
tions would be great, when the Bank of England, in consequence of 
the outside pressure, was forced to raise its rate of discount to 10 
per cent. Still, our Banks managed to help their regular customers 
through the most trying period, and they are again doing their usual 
business. The recent change in the Usury Law permits the Banks 
to charge 7 per cent. , still retaining 6 per cent, as the legal rate of 
interest when there is no specific arrangement to the contrary. This 
very unphilosophic restriction of our monetary institutions calls into 
operation a class of operators termed Note-shavers, with whom 30 
per cent, is a mere trifle, — men who live and thrive upon the mis- 
fortunes of their neighbors. Surely our Legislators know not of the 
existence of such a class, or they would allow our Banks to sell their 
money at what it is worth, — as the grocer is allowed to sell his sugar, 
— and a much more healthy and legitimate mode of transacting busi- 
ness would be the result. 

Bank of Upper Canada. — This is the oldest of our Banks. It 
was established in 1821, while yet Toronto was but a small village 



92 TORONTO. 

■with somewhere about 1,400 inhabitants, and opened for business 
early in 1822, under the presidency of the Hon. "William Allan, in a 
small building on the corner of King and Frederick streets. In 
1826, their present more commodious premises on the corner of 
George and Duke streets, were erected ; but although central at the 
time, the tendency of the city has been towards the West, and the 
Upper Canada Bank is consequently very much out of the way of 
business people. It was rumoured some time ago that the Directors 
had made arrangements to erect a more modernized structure near 
the foot of Church street ; but, so far, ground has not yet been 
broken. 

Authorized Capital $4,000,000. 

President William Proudf oot. 

Cashier T. G. Bidout. 

Commercial Bank or Canada. — This Bank was established in 
Kingston in 1832, under the name of the Commercial Bank of the 
Midland District. The Toronto Branch was opened in the following 
year. By an Act passed in the Session of 1856, the name was 
changed to that of the Commercial Bank of Canada. It is situate on 
the south side of Wellington street, opposite to the foot of Jordan 
street. 

Authorized Capital $4,000,000. 

President ... Hon. John Hamilton. 

Manager C. J. Campbell. 

Bank of British North America. — The Head Office of this 
Branch is in London, England. The Toronto Branch was estab- 
lished in 1837. It commenced operations in the old house on King 
and Frederick streets, where the Bank of Upper Canada was first 
opened, and was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1840. The Bank 
is now situated on the north-east corner of Yonge and Wellington 
streets. 

Authorized Capital , $6,000,000. 

Directors Lewis Moffatt, Frederick Perkins. 

Manager W. G. Cassels. 

Bank of Montreal. — In 1840, the Bank of Montreal purchased 
the charter of the Bank of the People, carried on under the presi- 
dency of James Lesslie, with Francis Hincks, the present Governor 
of Barbadoes, as its Cashier, and they opened it as a Branch Bank. 
It is situated at the corner of Yonge and Front streets. 

Authorized Capital $6,000,000. 

Manager ..,.. Robert Milroy. 



STATISTICS. 93 

City Bank of Montreal. — The Toronto Branch of the City- 
Bank of Montreal was opened in 1849, in one of the large houses on 
Church street, south of St. Andrew's Church. In 1856, it was re- 
moved to its present commodious premises, on the north-west 
corner of Yonge and Wellington streets. 

Authorized Capital $1,200,000. 

Manager , T. Woodside. 

Bank of Toronto. — This Bank was incorporated in 1855, and 
commenced business in 1856 in the premises on Church street, which 
had just been vacated by the City Bank. 

Authorized Capital $2,000,000. 

President ,... J. Gr. Chewett. 

Cashier . Angus Cameron, 

Quebec Bank. — The Toronto Branch of the Quebec Bank was 
opened in 1857, in a building on Wellington street, adjoining the 
Toronto Exchange. 

Authorized Capital $1,000,000. 

Manager W. W. Ransom. 

Molson's Bank. — The Toronto Branch of this Bank was opened 
in 1855, in the Exchange Buildings. 

Authorized Capital $1,000,000. 

Manager John Glass. 

Savings' Banks. — A little more than fifty years ago, it occurred 
to several benevolent-minded individuals in England, that an incal- 
culable benefit would be conferred upon the humbler classes if an 
institution upon the principle of a Banking establishment was formed 
where they could deposit the small sums which they might from "time 
to time save from their weekly earnings, with the certainty of being 
able, upon any emergency, to draw them out with an accumulated 
interest. The Savings' Bank was accordingly established hi England 
in 1805, and the principle found so great favor with the public, that 
Savings' Banks were shortly established throughout Scotland and 
Ireland, and in time they found a place in the social economics of 
America. These Banks were generally conducted at first by associa- 
tions of benevolent persons, who not only gave their time .and expe- 
rience gratuitously, but gave the security of their own standing and 
respectability for the safety of the accumulating funds. They also 
held out every inducement to the working classes to deposit the sur- 
plus of their weekly earnings, especially the sixpences and shillings 
that they were in the habit of depositing with the tavern-keeper. J 



94 TORONTO. 

After some millions of money had been thus deposited, Govern- 
ment was induced to step in and frame a variety of statutes 
for the better regulation of Savings' Banks, and to give its own secu- 
rity for the safe keeping of the deposits. In this way they obtained 
a national character and security. All Savings' Banks in Britain 
require to be framed according to the rules appointed by the Legisla- 
ture, and these rules are such as to secure the proper management of 
these important institutions. 

We have two Savings' Banks in the City, one of which — the Home 
District Savings' Bank — has been in existence for nearly 30 years. 
As I had never seen, — so far as my memory served me, — any Report 
of the proceedings of this institution, or any published statement of 
its affairs, I attributed the matter to an oversight on my part, or a 
strange remissness on the part of the Press which takes cognizance of 
every thing, and therefore called at the office to obtain information, 
such as is generally published in connexion with Savings' Banks in 
Britain, — such as amount of deposits for the year, amount of invest- 
ments, <fcc. &c. The manager very frankly told me, however, that 
all their affairs were private. Reports were prepared,, but only for 
the Directors, and therefore were never published, nor had they 
any statement whatever to give to the public, either in regard to 
the amount of deposits or investments. I learned subsequently 
that the Bank was not established upon either of the principles upon 
which such Banks had been established in Britain. It is simply a 
private speculation established under an ordinance of Sir John Col- 
borne, managed economically, the deposits prudently invested, and 
the proceeds thereof reverting to the proprietary. The Bank was 
opened in 1830. It is located in George Street, between King and 
Duke Streets. Manager — C. Scadding. 

The Toronto Savings' Bank. — This Institution was established 
under Provincial Statute on the 3rd of June, 1854, and is located. 
on the corner of Colborne Street and Change Alley. Manager — 
D. K. Feehan. A statement of its affairs from the commenceinent 
to the 30th June, 1858, is here submitted through the kindness of 
the Manager, from which it will be seen that the Institution has 
been very successful : — 

STATISTICAL. STATEMENT. 

Juue 30, 1 855 — Total Reeeipts and Interest 

added, first year £13,814 11 8 

Total Deposits and Interest withdrawn to 

date, first year £4749 19 S 

Balance due depositors. .. . 9064 12 5 

£13,814 11 8 £13,814 11 8 



STATISTICS. 95 

June 30, 1856. — Balance due depositors last 
year, being total liability 30th June, 
1855 9064 12 5 

Deposits received to date 25,240 4 10 

Interest added during year 577 13 2 

Principal and Interest withdrawn by de- 
positors to date 1 7,200 11 8 

Balance, Principal and Interest due de- 
positors 17,681 18 9 

£34,882 10 5 £34,882 10 5 



June 30, 1856.— Balance due Depositors.. 17,68118 9 

" 1857. — Deposits rec'd during year 37,150 8 5 

Interest added during year 1,145 16 9 

Principal and Interest withdrawn 29,019 9 11 

Balanee due depositors. . . . 26,958 14 

£55,978 3 11 £55,978 3 11 



June 30, 1857.— Balance due depositors .. 26,958 14 

" 1858.— Deposits rec'd during year 26,369 17 8 

Principal and Interest withdrawn 33,966 15 4 

Balance due depositors, being total liability 19,361 16 4 

£53,328 11 8 £53,328 11 8 



June 30, 1858. — Balance, Principal and In- 
terest due depositors this day £19,361 16 4 

By the following assets, 30th June, 1858, 
City and County Municipal Deben- 
tures 8,600 

Accrued Interest thereon 258 14 

Advances made on Bank Stock and Deben- 
tures to the extent of 6,196 4 1 3409 6 6 

Other securities at short dates 5,848 9 6 

Office Furniture 10110 5 

Cash in Bank of Upper Canada 3504 9 9 

Amount due depositors 19,361 16 4 

Balance, as a surplus to meet contingencies 2,360 13 10 

£21,722 10 2 £21,722 10 2 
June 30, 1858. — Balance over liabilities not drawn £2,360. 13 10 

Insurance Offices. — In a thriving city, where wood enters so 
largely into the construction, not only of sheds and outbuildings, 
but also of dwelling houses, as it does in Toronto, and where the 



96 TOE0NTO. 

water supply as a protection against fire is so exceedingly deficient, 
Insurance offices are necessarily very much in requisition. We have 
quite a number of Insurance offices and agencies therefore, all of 
them founding their title to patronage and consideration on the 
promptitude with which they have met, or are prepared to meet, the 
claims of the insured. Tins in itself is a point not to be overlooked, 
in making selection of an office, for there is no saying how soon it 
may be one's turn to test the sincerity of their professions of promp- 
titude. We seem to be unwilling, somehow, to wait until fires 
spring up naturally, as the necessary result of carelessness, or want 
of due precaution, for several of the fires which have occurred during 
the year have been attributed to incendiarism, and to all appearance 
not without strong presumptive evidence. The recent fire on 
Adelaide Street, in which Mr. Callaway lost so much valuable pro- 
perty, could have resulted from no other cause. Such a feeling of 
insecurity, whether well or ill founded, is prejudicial to those who 
do insure their property, because the rates of insurance are so much 
higher than they would be under ordinary risk. The offices are, 
however, compelled to charge high rates simply as a means of self 
defence. It is thus not the insurance office which is robbed, when a 
person fraudulently obtains the proceeds of a premeditated arson, it 
is society that is robbed, for whatever injures one portion of the 
body pohtic in their social capacity is shared in by all. The offices 
and agencies in Toronto are as follows : — 

^Etna, Fire and Making. — E. F. Whittemore & Co., agents, 
No. 39, King Street East, corner of Toronto Street. 

^Etna, Life. — E, F. Whittemore & Co., agents. 

Anchor. — Philip Maughan, agent, Change Alley. 

Britannia, Life. — James Fraser, agent, Toronto Street. 

British America. — Incorporated in 1833. Capital, $400,000. 
Head Office, corner of Church and Court Streets. Managing Direc- 
tor, T. W. Birchall. 

Buffalo Mutual, Marine.— Philip Maughan, agent, Change 
Alley. 

Canada, Life. — E. Bradburne, agent, King Street West. 

Canada, Western, Fire and Marine. — Incorporated in 1850. 
Capital, $400,000. Office, corner of Church and Colborne Streets. 
Secretary, B. Haldan. 

Charter Oak, Fire. — E. F. Whittemore & Co., agents. 

Colonial. — George S. McKay, King Street East. 

Eagle Life Insurance Company of London. — John Cameron, 
agent, Wellington Street. 



STATISTICS. 97 

Edinburgh, Life. — David Higgins, Secretary, Wellington Street, 
adjoining the Commercial Bank. 

Equitable of London, Fire. — James Manning, agent, corner of 
Yonge and Colbome Streets. 

Gbeat Western of Philadelphia. — L. W. V. H. Starr, agent, 
Toronto Street. 

Home District, Mutual. — This office was established in 1837. 
Office, corner of King and Nelson Streets, Secretary and Treasurer, 
John Rains. 

Home, Fire and Marine. — E. F. Whittemore & Co., agents. 

Life Association of Scotland. — Blaikie and Alexander, Local 
Secretaries, King Street West. 

Liverpool and London, Fire and Life. — James Fraser, agent, 
Toronto Street. 

Minerva, Life. — P. Morgan, agent, Exchange Buildings, Wel- 
lington Street. 

Montreal, Fire. — W. Kissock, agent, King Street East. 

Mutual of New York, Life. — James Manning, agent, corner of 
Yonge and Colborne Streets. 

Phoznix. — Moffat, Murray & Co., agents, No. 7, Yonge Street. 

Provident, Life. — W. H. Smith, Managing Director, 54, King 
Street East. 

Provincial, Fire and Marine. — Corner of Toronto and Court 
Streets. Honble. J. L. Starr, Manager. 

Royal. — F. H. He ward, agent, Exchange, Wellington Street 
East. 

Safeguard Fire and Marine Insurance Company of New York. 
— William Blight, agent, Toronto Street. 

Star, Marine. — Philip Maughan, agent, Front Street. 

Times and Beacon. — William Blight, agent, Toronto Street. 

Unity, Fire and Life. — R. J. U. Chipman, agent, No. 2, 
Toronto Street. 

Building and Investment Societies. — Building Societies have 
been in existence over forty years in Britain, but at first somewhat on 
the principle of a village club, where a certain number of persons 
agreed to pay such a sum monthly as would, in a given number of 
months, be in the aggregate the price of a house. They then drew lots, 
and he to whose lot it fell obtained the property, which had been pur- 
chased with the combined payments of all the members. Then at 
the end of another stated period the lot was again cast, and so on 
until all the members had obtained a property of equal value, each 
member continuing to pay his regular instalment until the close. 



98 TORONTO . 

There are many houses in the small towns of Scotland built on this 
principle, and the clubs for watches, eight-day clocks, &c., were 
numerous. A Building Society was established in 1815, under the 
auspices of the Earl of Selkirk, at Kircudbright, Scotland, and its 
success led to the establishment of others throughout the kingdom. 
The system was adopted in England, and societies were formed in the 
neighborhood of Manchester and Liverpool, and other places in the 
north of England. They increased rapidly, and in July, 1836, a 
special Act, 6 and 7 William IV., cap. 32, was passed for their 
encouragement and protection, in the provisions of which were 
embodied certain clauses as applicable to their conduct, which were 
included in the statutes relative to Friendly Societies passed during 
the previous reigns. There are now several thousands of these 
societies in existence throughout Britain and Ireland, and their intro- 
duction into Canada has been attended with considerable success. 
In their primitive form they were simply clubs, but in their more 
permanent and systematic form they are looked upon by those, more 
particularly perhaps, who have not sufficiently studied their plan of 
working, with suspicion, as having " considerable of the shaving shop" 
about them. If means were taken to spread correct information in 
regard to their nature and operations, this feeling would very soon 
disappear. They are invaluable auxiliaries in our social economics, 
and ought to be encouraged in every possible way. 

"A Building Society, when properly constituted, is a species of 
joint stock association, the members of which subscribe periodically, 
— and in proportion to the number of shares they hold, — different sums 
into one common fund, which thus becomes large enough to be 
advantageously employed by being lent out at interest to such of the 
members who desire advances ; and the interest, as soon as it is 
received, making fresh capital, is lent out again and again, so as to 
be continually reproductive. The payments of borrowers are so cal- 
culated as to enable them to repay, by equal monthly instalments, 
within a specified period, the principal of the sum borrowed, and 
whatever interest may be due upon it throughout the duration of the 
loan. The other members who have not borrowed, and who are gene- 
rally called investers, receive, at the end of a given number of years, 
a large sum, which is equivalent to the amount of their subscriptions 
with compound interest accumulated thereon. The idea of a Society 
upon this principle, correctly formed and afterwards properly 
managed, is of the most admirable kind ; for, on the one hand, it 
holds out inducements to industrious individuals to put by periodi- 
cally from their incomes small or large sums, winch are invested for 



STATISTICS. 99 

them by the society, and at the end of a certain time are repaid to 
them in the shape of a large acciimulation, without their having 
themselves the trouble of seeking for suitable investments. While, 
on the other hand, the money subscribed being advanced to some of 
the other members, enables them to purchase houses, or similar pro- 
perty, and to re-pay the loan by small periodical instalments, extend- 
ed over a number of years." * 

The " Toronto Building Society," the first which was established 
in Toronto, commenced operations in 1846. The Farmers' and 
Mechanics' Building Society was established in 1847, and after an 
existence of a little over eight years, wound up its affairs, having 
done a profitable business, returning to its members a dividend equal 
to 15 per cent, per annum compound interest for the whole period 
of its operations. The Toronto Building Society wound up shortly 
after, having also done a good business. Several of the share- 
holders of these Societies associated together for the establishment 
of a new Society, as a successor to the two which had so successfully 
terminated. The result of their negotiations was the incorporation of 

The Canada Permanent Building and Savings' Society, in 
1855. This Association, from the Report for the year ending 
January 31st, 1858, seems in a very flourishing condition. Its 

Subscribed Capital is $401,700 

Invested on Real Estate 160,000 

Annual Income from Members 110,400 

The office of the Society is in the Masonic Hall, Toronto Street. 
Secretary and Treasurer, J. Herbert Mason. 

The Commercial Building and Investment Society was estab- 
lished in 1851, and has done a very favourable business. 

In the la,st Report of the Society's operations it is stated that the 
members have realized a profit of 19 per cent, compound interest per 
annum from the commencement of the society. The Investments 
on Real Estate amount to £20,000. The office of the society is on 
the corner of King and Nelson streets. Secretary and Treasurer, 
John Rains. 

Ontario Building Society was incorporated in 1850, and is 
understood to wind up in 1859. Secretary and Treasurer, Nathan 
Gatchell. 

Second Peoples' Building Society was established in 1853. 



* Scratchley on Industrial Investment, London, 1851. 



100 TORONTO. 

No subscribed capital. Office, Front street. Secretary and Trea- 
surer, Charles Stotesbury. This society also winds up next year. 

Merchants' Building Society. — This Society was established in 
1853. It is located on the south-east corner of Colborne Street and 
Change Alley, Secretary and Treasurer, John Maulson. 

Subscribed Capital £11,150 

Amount Invested 10,750 

Income from Members for year ending — 

June, 1858 5,993 8 8 

Amount deposited at six per cent 8, 711 14 

Amount paid to depositers 6,695 15 7 

Metropolitan Building Society, established in 1856. This 
Society offers equal advantages to any of its predecessors, but being 
the last in the field, its operations are consequently more limited. 
The Report for the past year was only prepared for the Directors, 
consequently I have no statistics to give therefrom. 

Canada Landed Credit Company. — This is an entirely new 
f eature in our economical arrangements, and has just come into ope- 
ration by virtue of an Act of Incorporation passed during the recent 
Session of Parliament. Landed Credit Associations have been in 
existence upon the Continent of Europe for nearly a century, 
although in their earlier stages they were very imperfect compared to 
what they are now. The principle upon which they are formed is 
simple, and the security for accomplishing the object in view un- 
doubted. The first institution of the kind was established in Silesia 
in 1770. The country had been ruined by a protracted war, and the 
landed proprietors were reduced to a most wretched state, when an 
humble and unknown Berlin trader came to their rescue, with the 
simple plan of combining all the estates of landed proprietors into one 
security, and substituting that combined security for the individual 
security of each separate debtor. The adoption of this simple expe- 
dient produced the most admirable effects. Societies of the same 
kind were subsequently established in Brandenburg in 1777, in 
Pomerania in 1781, in Hamburg in 1782, in Denmark in 1785, in 
Western Prussia in 1787, in Eastern Prussia in 1788, and in Hanover, 
under an improved system, in 1790. In the present century they 
have been established in Livonia, Schleswig Holstein, Grand Duchy 
of Posen, Groningen, Poland, and various other places on the Conti- 
nent ; but it was not till 1852 that they found a footing in France. 
There are two distinct classes of landed credit institutions — one class 



STATISTICS. 101 

being formed by a Company and administered by that company ; the 
other formed by the State and administered exclusively by it ; but 
into their respective histories it is unnecessary here to enter. The 
association just formed in the City belongs to the first class. The 
office bearers for the present year, exclusive of the provisional Direc- 
tors named in the Act of Incorporation, are : — 

President Lewis Moffatt. 

Vice-President W. P. Howland, M.P.P. 

Standing Counsel S. M. Jarvis. 

Secretary John Symons. 

Auditors Blaikie & Alexander. 

Bankers Bank of British North America. 

Office— Toronto : 16 Masonic HaU. 
The principles of the association are similar to those of the im- 
proved continental ones. It forms an intermediary between the 
landed proprietor and the capitalist, and by the combined security of 
a number of estates guarantees an undoubted security for the money 
which the capitalist may be disposed to invest. This association can- 
not fail to be of the utmost advantage in Canada, where there is so 
much land to reclaim from the wilderness, while the undoubted sta- 
bility of its Directors and office bearers will secure the capitalist 
against any anxiety or doubt in regard to the safety of his money, 
and the certainty of the returns — the institution being alone respon- 
sible to him for the money lent. 

North West Transportation Navigation and Railway Com- 
pany. — This is also a new association, organized under an Act of 
Incorporation passed during the recent session of the Legislature. 
Its fundamental object is to revive the trade carried on by the old 
North West Company of Montreal, of which Washington Irving has 
given so interesting a description in his Astoria, and which amalga- 
mated with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. That is the pri- 
mary object of the company, but it will be carried out by a different 
kind of machinery, for the steamboat, the railway, and the telegraph 
will be called in to their aid, and as a matter of course the brilliant 
poetic episodes in the historical career of the old North West will give 
place to the prosaic incidents of every day bustling life. The Com- 
pany propose to open out highways of communication to the fertile 
fields of the far West, and also a highway to the gold fields of 
Fraser's River, making Toronto the starting point of their opera- 
tions, and thus directing the course of the emigrant from Europe by 
the St. Lawrence, or by the Grand Trunk Railroad from Portland. 



102 TOEONTO. 

The first communication will be by waggon road from the head of 
Lake Superior to some point on the navigable waters in the most 
direct line ; thence by boats and portages to the Red River — a dis- 
tance altogether of about 380 miles. From the Red River steamers 
will run by the River Saskatchewan to the foot of the Rocky Moun- 
tains — a distance of 1000 miles. From this point a land communi- 
cation will be opened up to Fraser's River, a distance of 150 miles. 
Such is the aim of the Company, and it is sufficiently extensive to 
engage the time and attention of the wisest heads in our community. 
The plan is feasible, it is within the compass of the possibilities of 
the day, but it will require to be gone about with a firm self-reliant 
unity of purpose, and with a determination to overcome every 
obstacle that may stand in the way, however formidable it may appear. 
The capital of the Company is £100,000, with power to increase it if 
need be to £200,000, and with a further power of increase for rail- 
way purposes at the rate of £7,500 per mile. There are several 
influential parties in England connected with the movement. 
The office bearers for the present year are : — 
President — Wm. McD. Dawson, M.P.P. 
Vice-Presidents— Lewis Moffatt, W. P. Howland, M.P.P. 

Directors : 
Sir Allan K MacNab, J. C. Chapais, M.P.P., 

Allan McDonell, G. H. Simard, M.P.P., 

John McMurrich, John McLeod, M.P.P., 

George Munro, Ignace Gill, M. P. P. , 

"William McMaster, George Michie, 

E. F. Richardson, W. P. Howland, M.P.P., 

Angus McDoneU, J. E. Turcotte, M.P.P., 

Thomas Dick, George Gladman, 

J. G. Brown, Clark Ross, 

Adam Wilson, William Kennedy. 



SECTION V.— EDUCATION. 

In the Act George III. , cap. 31, conferring upon the province a 
form of Government similar to that of England, provision was made 
that a portion of the Waste Lands of the Crown should be set apart 
for the support of a University. In 1792, General Simcoe, the first 
Governor of Upper Canada, urged upon the Home Government the 
establishment of a University in the town of York — the seat of the 
Executive Government — the Legislature and the Courts of Justice. 



EDUCATION. 103 

In 1798 the Executive Council and the Judges and Law officers of 
the Crown reported to the Home Government as their unanimous 
opinion that the appropriation of Waste Lands, estimating the 
average price of land at about ninepence an acre, would require 
to be 500,000 acres, or ten Townships, after the deduction of the 
Crown and Clergy sevenths, — one-half of the appropriation to be 
devoted to the support of four Government Schools — one in Kingston, 
one in Cornwall, one in Newark, and one in Sandwich ; the other 
half for the endowment of a University, — the circumstances of the 
province calling for the immediate erection of two Government 
Schools, one at Kingston, the other at Newark. A grant of 549,000 
acres was accordingly made, but no steps seem to have been taken 
towards the establishment of a University for many years, although 
a number of Grammar Schools were in 1807 established as nurseries 
for the contemplated Institution. 

In 1825, His .Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland, in a despatch to 
Lord Bathurst, suggested the propriety of exchanging so much of the 
lands as remained undisposed of for a portion of the Crown Reserves 
then under lease, in order that a sum might be made available for 
the immediate establishment of a University on a scale that would 
render it effective. In the report of a Commission appointed to 
inquire into the affairs of King's College, it is stated, that, of the 
original appropriation, nearly 200,000 acres had been disposed of, up 
to the year 1826, by a body designated the Board of Education, and 
the proceeds applied to the support of Grammar Schools. 

Lord Bathurst, in his dispatch of 21st March, 1827, to His Excel- 
lency Sir Peregrine Maitland, says — "I have the honor to inform 
you that His Majesty has been pleased to grant a Royal Charter by 
Letters Patent under the Great Seal, for establishing at or near the 
town of York, in the province of Upper Canada, one College, with 
the style and privileges of a University, for the education and in- 
struction of youth in Arts and Faculties, to continue for ever, to be 
called King's College. I am further to acquaint you that His 
Majesty has been pleased to grant One thousand pounds per annum 
as a fund for erecting the buildings necessary for the College, to be 
paid out of the moneys furnished by the Canada Company, and to 
continue during the term of that Company's agreement. I have to 
authorize you, on the receipt of this dispatch, to exchange such 
Crown Reserves as have not been made over to the Canada Company 
for an equal portion of the lands set apart for the purpose of educa- 
tion and foundation of a University as suggested in your dispatch of 
19th December, 1825, and more fully detailed in Dr. Strachan's 



104 TORONTO. 

Report of 10th March, 1826, and you will proceed to endow King's 
College with the said Crown Reserves with as little delay as possible. " 

A Royal Charter was thus granted in 1827 for the establishment, 
at or near the town of York, of a College, with the style and privi- 
leges of a University, to continue for ever, to be called King's Col- 
lege, — the Chancellor, President, and such Professors of said College 
as shall be appointed members of the College Council, to be mem- 
bers of the Church of England and Ireland — and they "shall, 
previously to their admission into the said College Council, severally 
sign and subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, as declared 
and set forth in the Book of Common Prayer." 

In due time the College Council was formed by His Excellency, 
but the exclusive character of the Charter was so unsatisfactory to 
the people generally that an amendment was demanded to the effect 
that no religious test should be required save a distinct declara- 
tion "of belief in the authenticity and Divine Inspiration of the 
Old and New Testaments, and in the Doctrine of the Trinity." 
The difficulty, however, did not end here. The following extracts 
from a dispatch of His Excellency Lord Elgin, dated Toronto, 4th 
February, 1851, to Earl Grey, then Secretary for the Colonies, gives 
a concise but comprehensive view of the difficulties winch were 
superinduced by the exclusive Charter. After referring to various 
matters which had been submitted to him by the Colonial Secretary, 
His Excellency says — 

5. "The first movement made towards the establishment of a 
University in Upper Canada, was in 1797, when the Legislative 
Council and Assembly concurred in an Address to the King, implor- 
ing that His Majesty would be graciously pleased to direct His 
Government in this Province to appropriate a certain portion of the 
waste lands of the Crown as a fund for the establishment and sup- 
port of a respectable Grammar School in each district thereof ; and 
also a College or University, for the instruction of the youth in the 
different branches of liberal knowledge." A favorable answer was 
returned to this Address, intimating that it was " His Majesty's 
most gracious intention to comply with the wishes of the Legislature 
of the Province of Upper Canada," and accordingly a large appro- 
priation of vacant land was shortly afterwards made for the purpose 
of the endowment. In the year 1807, District Schools were estab- 
lished by the Legislature, for the support of which a Special Grant 
was made, as the lands so set apart had not yet become productive. 
It is to be observed, however, that true to the intention of the 
Address and Endowment, these Schools were altogether unsectarian 



EBTTCATlOtf. 105 

in their constitution. ISTo practical step appears to have been taken 
for carrying out that part of the Address which had reference to a 
University, until the year 1827, when Dr. Strachan, Archdeacon of 
York, being in England, obtained from Lord Bathurst a Royal 
Charter establishing the University of King's College." 

6. ' ' The University established by this Charter was essentially a 
Church of England Institution. The Bishop was to be Visitor, the 
Archdeacon of York, President, and each member of the College Coun- 
cil, — seven of whom were to be eventually Prof essors, — was required 
to subscribe the Thirty-Nine Articles. When its contents were made 
known in the Province, great indignation was excited, which found 
a vent in addresses from the popular branch of the Legislature and 
public meetings. It was urged that the representations, on the faith 
of which the Charter had been granted, were erroneous ; that its 
provisions were unsuited to the state of the Province, and inconsis- 
tent with the intentions of the endowment. The justice of these 
remonstrances seems to have been admitted with very little contesta- 
tion. They found an echo in the House of Commons. The Lieu- 
tenant Governor was instructed by the Secretary of State to endea- 
vor to obtain from the College Council a surrender of the Charter ~ 
and finally, the local Parliament was invited by the same authority 
to amend it, in terms which imposed no limits on its discretion. It 
was not, however, till 1837, that an Act passed for this purpose, in 
which both branches of the Legislature concurred. 

7. " During the whole of this period, the Charter, so far as the 
object of education was concerned, was practically in abeyance. A 
considerable expenditure of funds took place, which was the subject 
of much criticism at the time ; but the University was not opened 
for instruction till the year 1843, when it was organized under the 
provisions of the Act of 1837. 

8. " By this Act the preferences which the Church of England 
enjoyed under the Royal Charter were altogether abolished. That 
it did not, however, in its operation give satisfaction to the Province 
is proved by the fact, that between the years 1843 and 1850, no less 
than four sweeping measures of amendment were introduced into 
Parliament, — two by Conservative and two by Liberal Administra- 
tions ; of these four measures, that of 1849 alone passed into a law. 

9. " The main cause of this dissatisfaction was undoubtedly the 
attempt which was made, notwithstanding the tenor of the Act of 
1837, to keep up a connexion between the Church of England and 
the University in various ways, and chiefly by the establishment of 
a Divinity Professorship and of Chapel Service." 

5 



106 TOEONTO. 

These remarks of His Excellency give a clue to the disaffection 
which prevailed. Nor did it end with the Act of 1849, by which the 
Faculty of Divinity was abolished ; for in 1853 an Act was passed 
by the Provincial Government, removing the Faculties of Law and 
Medicine, and separating the College from the University, constitu- 
ting the University of Toronto solely an Examining body, and 
vesting the Collegiate functions in University College. We have 
now therefore, in Toronto, three Educational Institutions, supported 
by public endowment, — the University of Toronto, University Col- 
lege, and Upper Canada College. 

University of Toronto. — By the Act of 1853, to which refer- 
ence has been made, the functions of this Institution are limited, as 
in the University of London, to prescribing subjects of examination 
in the Faculties of Law, Medicine, and Arts, and in the depart- 
ments of Civil Engineering and Agriculttire ; and to the appoint- 
ment of Examiners to test the qualifications of Candidates for 
Degrees, Diplomas, or Certificates of Honor. 

The business of the Institution is conducted by a Chancellor, ap- 
pointed by the Governor during pleasure ; a Yice-Chancellor, 
elected by the Senate for two years ; other members of the Senate, 
appointed by the Governor ; Examiners, annually elected by the 
Senate ; and a Registrar, also appointed by the same body. 

With a view to extending the benefits of University education 
amongst all classes of the community, the following Scholarships, — i 
each of the value of £30 per annum, — have been established, viz. : 
ten in the Faculty of Law, ten in the Faculty of Medicine, thirty- 
seven in the Faculty of Arts, and five in each of the departments of 
Civil Engineering and Agriculture. These Scholarships are open to 
the competition of the whole Province, for the encouragement of 
those who desire a University education, and have no other means 
to obtain it than the talents and the industry and persevering en- 
ergy with which nature has endowed them — the successful candidate 
being permitted to enroll himself with any of the affiliated Colleges 
he may wish to attend. 

The number of Undergraduates on the books during the past year 
was over 130. 

University College. — This Institution, with a full staff of able 
and talented Professors, offers education of a very superior charac- 
ter at a merely nominal sum. The learned and esteemed Dr. 
McCaul is President of University College and Professor of Classics, 
Logic, and Rhetoric. The other professors are : Rev. Dr. Beaven, 



EDUCATION. 107 

Metaphysics and Ethics; H. H. Croft, D. C. L., Chemistry and 
Experimental Philosophy ; George Buckland, Agriculture ; J. B. 
Cherriman, B. A., Natural Philosophy ; Daniel Wilson, L. L. D., 
History and English Literature ; Rev. William Hincks, Natural 
History ; E. J. Chapman, Mineralogy and Geology ; J. Forneri, 
L. L. D. , Modern Languages ; G. T. Kingston, M. A. , Meteor- 
ology. In addition to these Professors, there are also a Lecturer in 
Oriental Literature, J. M. Hirschfelder, and a Classical Tutor, the 
Rev. Arthur Wickson, M. A. 

By this body of teachers, instruction is given in all the necessary 
branches to Candidates for Degrees in Arts or for Diplomas in Civil 
Engineering and Agriculture. In addition to Undergraduates (who 
are admitted to the Lectures without payment), Students desirous 
of attending particular courses, without pursuing the regular curri- 
culum, are permitted to attend on payment of a small fee varying 
from 10s. to 25s. , according to the courses attended. 

The number of Students who attended Lectures in the College 
during the last year was nearly 200. In the extensive buildings at 
present in progress in the University Park, suitable accommodation 
will be provided for conducting the business of the University and 
College in all their departments, including chambers for the resi- 
dence of the Students of the latter Institute. 

Upper Canada College. — This institution, by the recent Uni- 
versity Act, is under the superintendence of the Senate of the 
University. In pursuance of the Report of the Executive Council, 
and of the Judges and Law Officers of the Crown, of 1798, on the 
establishment of Grammar Schools and other places of education in 
the Province, a Grammar School was established in York, and con- 
ducted with considerable success for many years. In 1829, however, 
it was considered advisable to afford facilities for obtaining a superior 
education to that hitherto given in the metropolis of the Western 
Province, and Upper Canada College was established by an Ordi- 
nance of the Provincial Government. The classes of the new insti- 
tution were opened in 1830, in the York or Home District Grammar 
School Building on Nelson and Adelaide Streets, and continued 
there until the following year, when the present buildings on King 
and Simcoe Streets were completed. In the years 1832, '34, and '35, 
it was endowed with 63,268 acres of land, exclusive of two blocks in 
the city, on one of which the College stands. It also received a 
grant from the Provincial exchequer of £200 in 1830, £500 in 1831, 
and £1,000 per annum from that time to the present. 

The first Principal was the Rev. J. H. Harris, D.D., who was 



108 TOEONTO. 

succeeded, in 1839, by the Rev. John McCaul, LL. D. On his re- 
signation, in 1843, F. W. Barron, M.A., was appointed ; and the 
present Principal is the Rev. W. Stennett, M.A., who had for a 
number of years held the position of Second Classical Master. In 
1831, Mr. Stennett, the new Principal, entered the Upper Canada 
College as a pupil in the preparatory form. He remained at 
College until the Christmas of 1837, when he went to the Univer- 
sity, and after the usual University course, was appointed 3rd 
Classical Master of the College in the place of Mr. Cosens deceased. 
In 1848, Mr. Stennett was appointed 2nd Classical Master, which 
position he held until April, 1857, when he received his present 
appointment. The Principal, the three classical masters, and the 
mathematical master, are all pupils of the institution, and with the 
exception of Dr. Scadding, graduates of the University of Toronto. 
The present arrangements are : 

1st Classical Master Rev. Henry Scadding, D. D. 

2nd " " .'..William Wedd, M.A. 

3rd " " .......G. M. Evans, M.A. 

Mathematical Master James Brown, M. A. 

French Master M. de St. Remy. 

English Classical Master C. W. Connon, LL.D. 

1st English Master M. Barrett, M.D., M.A. 

2nd " " C. Thompson. 

3rd " •< J. Dodd. 

Ornamental Drawing ..E. C. Bull. 

Instrumental Music A. Maul. 

German ....^ Rev. E. Schluter. 

Terms for resident pupils £45 per annum, which sum includes the 
tuition fee, board, and washing, and a seat in the Church which the 
parents or guardians of the pupil may wish him to attend. Terms 
for day pupils £1 5s. per quarter. 

The boarding-house having during this summer undergone a 
thorough renovation, has been placed under the control of Dr. 
Barrett, who has had considerable experience in the management of 
boys. The discipline is of course under the supervision of the 
Principal. The boarding-house is now conducted as an integral part 
of the Institution ; its disbursements are paid out of the general 
fund, and its returns paid into that fund. In tins way it is consid- 
ered the health and comfort of the boarders are best secured. Each 
boy has a separate dormitory, neatly and airily fitted up ; a bath- 
room is provided, and abundant facilities for out-door exercises and 
amusement within the College grounds. More than 2,000 of the 



EDTTCATIOK. 109 

youth of the Province have received their education in whole or in 
part at Upper Canada College. It numbers at present nearly three 
hundred pupils. 

Ttinity College. — To the enthusiasm and indomitable perseve- 
rance of his Lordship the Bishop of the Diocese of Toronto, the ' 
Church of England is indebted for the establishment of Trinity 
College. We have already referred to the fact that Governor Sim- 
coe, who seems to have been a prudent, self-reliant, liberal-minded 
gentleman, urged upon the Home Government in 1792 the propriety 
of estabhshing a University at the seat of government, that the 
youth of the province might enjoy the benefits of a sound educa- 
tion. "With a view to prepare for such an institution, he gave 
authority to the Hon. Richard Cartwright and the Hon. Robert 
Hamilton to secure ' ' a gentleman from Scotland to organize and 
take charge of the College or University which he purposed to estab- 
lish."* These gentlemen applied to their friends in Scotland to 
select a suitable person, and they fixed upon Mr. Thomas Chalmers, 
then completing his theological studies at St. Andrew's, but Mr. 
Chalmers having declined the offer, it was subsequently accepted by 
Mr. John Strachan, then parochial schoolmaster in the parish of 
King's Kettle, Fifeshire. Mr. Strachan was born in Aberdeen, 
on the 12th of April, 1778, and was educated at the Grammar school 
in that ancient city. In 1793 he matriculated in King's College, 
where he subsequently took the degree of A. M. ; he then removed to 
the University of St. Andrew's, to prosecute his theological studies, 
and in 1797 commenced to teach in the little village of King's Kettle. 
Mr. Strachan left Scotland in the end of August, 1799, and arrived 
in Upper Canada at the close of the year. But unfortunately for 
the interests of the colony, Governor Simcoe had been recalled to 
make room for some more subservient mind, and the idea, of estab- 
lishing the projected institution had departed with him. This must 
have caused considerable disappointment to Mr. Strachan, but his 
native energy enabled him to surmount the difficulties of his new 
position. He opened a school in Kingston, and, by the influence of 
Mr. Cartwright, collected a number of pupils, among whom were 
Mr. Cartwright's own children. Here he remained for three years, 
and under the instructions and advice of the Rev. Dr. Stuart, Arch- 
deacon of Upper Canada, prepared to enter the Chureh of England. 
He was accordingly ordained Deacon, by the Rev. Dr. Mountain, 
first Bishop of Quebec, and appointed to the Mission of Cornwall, 



Kise and Progress of Trinity College, Toronto, 1852. 



110 TORONTO. 

Here lie commenced the Cornwall Grammar School, and had the 
honor of including among his pupils several lads who afterwards rose 
to the highest positions in colonial society. One of these, John 
Beverley Robinson, was appointed Chief Justice of Upper Canada 
in 1829, an office the duties of which we trust he may long be spared 
to discharge with as much honor as he has done in the past. Another 
pupil of the Cornwall Grammar School was James Buchanan 
Macauley, who was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 
in 1849, and Jonas Jones, appointed a Puisne Judge in 1836. 

It is unnecessary here to inquire into the cause of this change of 
denominational persuasion by Mr. Strachan. It may have been that 
a wider field of usefulness opened out to him in connexion with the 
Church of England than with the Old Kirk of Scotland. In 1807 
the University of St. Andrew's conferred upon Mr. Strachan the 
degree of LL. D. , and in the same year the University of Aberdeen 
conferred on him the title of D.D. In 1812 Dr. Strachan was 
appointed Rector of York. In 1818 he was, by royal warrant, 
appointed an Executive Councillor, and took his seat in the Legis- 
lative Council ; in 1825 he was appointed Archdeacon of York ; in 
1836 he resigned Ins seat in the Executive Council ; in 1839 he was 
created Bishop of the Diocese of Toronto ; in 1840 he resigned his 
place as a member of the Legislative Council, and now in 1858, at 
the advanced age of eighty — past on the 12th of April — he retains 
the freshness and vigor of a man of threescore, with all the broad 
distinctive peculiarity of accent which distinguished the natives of 
Aberdeen of the last century, — one of the strangest coincidences in 
the career of the indomitable Bishop. It is foreign to our purpose 
to be thus personal, yet it is evident that any mention of Trinity 
College would be very incomplete, without a brief notice of its ven- 
erable founder. The great object of his ambition since he fairly 
commence'd his career in this Province, seems to have been the up- 
building of the Church of which he is now the chief spiritual ruler. 
With that view he took an active part in the establishment of King's 
College, and in the manifold discussions to which the disposition of 
that Institution gave rise, until the Theological chair was finally 
abolished by the Legislative. From that time he set himself vigor- 
ously to the task of establishing an Institution in connexion with the 
Church of England, and his zeal and perseverance have been nobly 
rewarded. 

On February 7th, 1850, he addressed a pastoral to the Clergy and 
Laity of his Diocese, in which he says : "On the 1st day of January, 
1850, the destruction of King's College as a Christian Institution 



EDUCATION. Ill 

was accomplished. * * Deprived of her University, what is the 
Church to do ?" His Lordship then points out at some length the 
duty of the Church in the emergency. He recommended the clergy 
and laity of the Diocese to petition the Queen for the restoration of 
the University, and failing in that to make a general appeal to the 
Church in Britain and Ireland, for aid to supply such an institution 
as that of which they had been deprived. ' ' The spirit of the Church 
has already begun to move. Eight thousand pounds will be secured 
to the University before this meets the public eye, and I have some 
reason to believe that an equal amount is already set apart in Eng- 
land. Moreover, we shall have £1,200 per annum from the vener- 
able Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign parts, till it can 
be relieved by the proceeds of our own endowment, and we shall 
have our Theological Library restored. * * I shall have com- 
pleted my seventy-second year before I can reach London, of which 
more than 50 years have been spent in Upper Canada, and one of 
my chief objects during all that time was to bring King's College 
into active operation ; and now after more than six years of increas- 
ing prosperity, to see it destroyed by stolid ignorance and presump- 
tion, and the voice of peace and prayer banished from its halls, is a 
calamity not easy to bear." As a matter of course this appeal from 
the venerable Bishop was heartily responded to, and about £25,000 
was subscribed, in money, lands, and stock in Building Societies 

On the 10th of April, 1850, His Lordship took his departure for 
England on his important mission of enlisting the sympathies of the 
Church at home in the cause of the Church of England here. He 
returned again on the 4th of November of the same year, having re- 
ceived liberal assistance in carrying out his design. The Society for 
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts gave a grant of 
£2,000, payable by instalments of £400 per annum, and also gave 
seven acres and a half of land within the precincts of the City of 
Toronto, which has since realized upwards of £9,000. The Society 
for Promoting Christian Knowledge granted £3,000 ; and the 
University of Oxford, £500 ; while the subscriptions of private in- 
dividuals exceeded £4,000. In the course of the summer a School 
of Medicine had been organized by Dr. Hodder and Dr. Bovell, 
under the title of the Upper Canada School of Medicine. With 
these gentlemen were associated Drs. Hallowell, Badgley, Melville, 
and Bethune, as forming the Medical Faculty of the projected insti- 
tution. In 1852, a Royal Charter was granted to Trinity College, 
in which it is provided that " The said College shall be deemed and 
taken to be a University, and shall have and enjoy all such and the 



112 TOBOSTO. 

like privileges as are" enjoyed by our Universities of our United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." The Professors in Arts 
or Faculties must be members of the Established Church of England 
and Ireland, and upon their admission must sign and subscribe the 
Thirty-nine Articles of Religion as declared and set forth in the 
Book of Common Prayer, and the Three Articles of the Sixth Canon. 
The learned and Hon. Sir John Beverly Robinson, Bart. , C. B. , D. C. L. , 
Chief Justice of Upper Canada, is Chancellor of the University. 

The Professors are : Classics — John Ambery, M.A. ; Mathematics 
— Edward K. Kendall, B. A. ; Chemistry and Geology — Henry Youle 
Hind, M. A. ; Physiology — James Bovell, M. D. ; Classical Lecturer 
—A. J. Broughall, B.A. ; Mathematical Lecturer — R. Sandars, B.A. 

All students are required to reside within the College. The annual 
expenses are at the rate of £50 currency per annum, exclusive of 
£12 10s. as College Fees. Students residing with their parents in 
Toronto, make an annual payment of £15 10s. Students residing 
during the Christmas and Easter holidays are charged at the rate of 
15s. per week board, and 2s. per week for fire and light. 

There are twenty-four Scholarships founded in connexion with 
Trinity College. Five Divinity Scholarships : one of £30, two of 
£25, and two of £20. Two of £40 each, tenable for two years, 
founded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, one of 
which is awarded annually to the most deserving B. A. entering the 
theological class. Two Scholarships to the value of £50 each, 
tenable for two years, founded by His Grace the late Duke of Wel- 
lington. Two of £30 each, tenable for three years, founded by the 
late Alexander Burnside. One of £30, tenable for three years, 
founded by His Lordship the Bishop. Three of £30 each, tenable 
for three years, founded by George W. Allan. Three by William 
Dickson, of £30, for three years. Two by the Society for the Pro- 
pagation of the Gospel, from the Jubilee Fund of the year 1851. 
These Scholarships are awarded according to the result of the 
Annual June Examination to the most successful students of the 
first year. Two Scholarships have been founded by the Hon. John 
H. Cameron of £25 each, tenable for three years, restricted to the 
sons of Clergymen resident and doing duty in British North America, 
and awarded when a vacancy occurs at the Annual Examination in 
October to some candidate for Matriculation. An Exhibition of 
£30, tenable for three years, has been founded by Robert Denison, 
in Divinity or the Arts', to which he himself presents. The fol- 
lowing Scholarships are also open to competition at the commence- 
ment of the Michaelmas Term of each year : — Four Foundation 



EDUCATION. 113 

Scholarships, tenable for three years, on condition of attendance on 
the lectures in the Arts' course ; one of £30, one of £25, and two 
of £20, open to all candidates for matriculation, of the required age. 
Four Church Society Scholarships, tenable for two years ; one of 
£30, two of £25, and two of £20, open to Bachelors of Arts who 
have graduated in Trinity College ; or to Undergraduates, who, 
having passed one year in the Arts' course, have entered on their 
22nd year, and are approved as candidates for admission into the 
Theological class. 

Knox College. — This Institution, the nucleus of which was formed 
shortly after the disruption of the Kirk of Scotland in 1843, is in 
connection with the Free Church, and is strictly denominational. 
The Rev. Michael Willis, D.D., is Principal and Professor of Sys- 
tematic Theology. The Rev. George Paxton Young is Professor of 
Exegetical Theology, Logic, and Mental and Moral Philosophy. The 
Rev. Robert Burns, D. D., Professor of Evidences of Revealed 
Religion and Church History. Classical Tutor, Mr. James A. Smith. 
There are connected with the College two bursaries of £10 each, 
founded by a merchant belonging to the Church — one, the John 
Knox bursary, for eminence in Theology ; the other, the George 
Buchanan bursary for eminence in Classics. The Free Church of 
Scotland has for several years given a small bursary for proficiency 
in Gaelic, but it may not be permanent. The Students attend Uni- 
versity College for the branches of learning not supplied in their 
own more restricted Institution. The annual attendance since the 
opening of the College averages upwards of fifty. 

United Presbyterian Divinity Hall. — This is exclusively an 
Institution for students preparing for the United Presbyterian Church. 
The present Professor, the Rev. John Taylor, M.D. and D.D., of 
the University of Edinburgh, pastor of the Gould Street United 
Presbyterian Church, is appointed by the Home Mission of the 
U. P. Church of Scotland, and partly supported by them, to train 
ministers for the Church in Canada in connexion with this denomi- 
nation. The Hall was first opened in London in 1842, under Pro- 
fessor Proudfoot, and was removed to Toronto in 1849. In 1851, 
Professor Proudfoot died, and was succeeded in 1852 by Dr. Taylor 
from Auchtermuchty in Fifeshire, Scotland. The meetings of the 
Hall were held in the Mechanics' Institute until the erection of Dr. 
Taylor's new church on Gould Street. A fund, styled the Students' 
Fund, is established by the subscriptions or collections of the several 



114 TOEOKTO. 

each student, who makes application, receives £10 a year to assist in 
his maintenance during his stay in the city. There is only one ses- 
sion of five months duration in each year, opening about the middle 
of October and closing in April. The curriculum embraces four 
sessions of five months each. The branches taught are Systematic 
Divinity, Church History, and Biblical Literature. For Logic, 
Mathematics, and Classics, the Students attend University College. 
The annual attendance since the opening of the Hall by Dr. Taylor 
averages twelve. 

Theological Institute. — This is an Institution of a similar na- 
ture to the two just mentioned, and is in connexion with the Con- 
gregational Chureh. It was opened in 1840, and is under the 
superintendence of a Committee chosen annually by those who 
support the Institution. The Professor of Theology is the Reverend 
Adam Lillie, D. D. , a gentleman favorably known beyond the limits 
of his more immediate sphere by his lectures and writings on Canada. 
His Canada, Physical, Economic, and Social, is a valuable work, 
and is entitled to the highest consideration. Dr. Lillie is assisted 
by the Rev. Arthur Wickson, A.M., as Classical Tutor. The session 
opens about the middle of October ; the course embraces four years 
of eight months each. The average annual attendance of students 
is eight. 

Rolph's School. — This school forms the Medical Department of 
the University of Victoria College, Cobourg. It was founded by the 
Hon. Dr. Rolph in 1843, and was incorporated by Act of Parliament 
in 1851. In October, 1854, the Board of Victoria College took into 
consideration a proposition submitted by Dr. Aikins, then one of the 
Lecturers in the Toronto School of Medicine, and unanimously resolved 
"That the Toronto School of Medicine be and is hereby constituted 
the Medical Department of Victoria College," reserving to the said 
Medical Faculty the power to make such by-laws for the government 
of the Medical Department as they might deem necessary ; such by- 
laws, however, to have the sanction of the Board. In 1856, the 
College Board purchased premises in Yorkville for the better accom- 
modation of the Faculty, and since then Yorkville has been the seat 
of the School. Associated with the Hon. Dr. Rolph, who is Dean 
of the Faculty, are : Dr. Walter Geikie, Dr. W. Canniff, Dr. John 
N. Reid, Dr. Charles Berryman, and Dr. J. H. Wilson. For 
Chemistry the students attend University College, Toronto. This 
school was known as the Toronto School of Medicine until very 
recently. At the opening of the Session of 1856 Dr. Aikins and Dr. 



EDUCATION. 115 

Wright and the other lecturers who were associated with Dr. Rolph 
in conducting the school — resigned in consequence of some inter- 
ference on the part of the College authorities. Dr. Rolph who was 
then in Quebec in his legislative capacity immediately returned and 
having got the assistance of Dr. Geikie and other medical gentlemen 
the lectures were proceeded with. The retiring medical gentlemen 
opened an opposition school in the city, and applied to the Court of 
Chancery to prevent Dr. Rolph from using the style and title of the 
1 ' Toronto School of Medicine. " The Court of Chancery has recently 
decided the issue by granting an injunction, and the name, Rolph's 
School, is now substituted therefor. 

Toronto School of Medicine. — The Professors who retired 
from Rolph's School, as just stated, opened a rival school in the city. 
It has recently been reorganized, and affiliated with the University of 
Toronto. The Professors are: E. M. Hodder, M. D., F. R. C. S., 
Eng. ; W. T. Aikins, M. D. ; W. H. Wright, M. D., L. C. P. & S., 
U. C. ; J. H. Richardson, M. D., M. R. C. S., Eng. ; N. Bethune, 
M. D., M. R. C. S., Eng. ; J. Bovell, M. D., L. R. C. P., London, 
M. Barrett, M. A., M. D. ; U. Ogden, M. D. ; J. Workman, M. D., 
Med. Supt. Prov. L. Asylum ; J. Rowelll, M., D. For Chemistry 
the students attend University College, Toronto. 

Normal and Model Schools. — Toronto is the seat of the Pro- 
vincial Normal School, established for the training of teachers,— 
male and female, — for the supply of the schools in the Province. 
This Institution is under the able superintendence of the Reverend 
Egerton'Ryerson, D.D., Chief Superintendent of Schools for Upper 
Canada. It is supported by Government grant of £1, 050 per annum, 
and as an inducement to persons to qualify themselves for the pro- 
fession of teacher, the sum of £1,000 per annum is by the last Act 
granted in aid of pupils attending the Normal School. This Insti- 
tution was opened for instruction in 1847, permission having been 
granted to occupy the Government House until suitable buildings 
were erected. In consequence, however, of the removal of Govern- 
ment from Montreal to Toronto in 1849, the Normal School was 
transferred to the Temperance Hall, Temperance Street, where it 
remained until November, 1852, when the new buildings were 
opened. Since the commencement of the school in 1847, to the 
termination of the 19th session in April, 1858, 2,279 pupils have 
attended ; 1,336 males, and 943 females. Teachers holding a first 
class certificate from this institution are eagerly sought for by 
Boards of School Trustees in all sections of the Province, and as a 



116 TOEONTO. 

higher salary is generally allowed them, teachers who may have kept 
school for years in the Province or elsewhere, find it to their advan- 
tage, even in a pecuniary point of view, to attend a certain time at 
the Normal School, in order to qualify themselves to rank as first 
class teachers. In the Normal School the teachers in teaming are 
instructed in the principles of education, and the best methods of 
communicating knowledge to the youth placed under their care ; 
and in the Model School they have an opportunity of giving practi- 
cal effect to these instructions, under the direction of teachers 
thoroughly acquainted with the system. The Model School is con- 
ducted in the same buildings as the Normal School, and is supported 
out of the general grant. The Normal School teachers are, T. J. 
Robertson, First Master ; Walter A. Watts, M. A. , Second Master ; 
Alexander P. Strachan, Writing and Book-keeping ; Henry F. 
Sefton, Music Master ; John Bentley, Drawing Master ; and Henry 
Goodwin, Teacher of Gymnastics and Calisthenics. 

Grammar Schools. — In 1853, the masters of the Normal School 
were appointed, by the Council of Public Instruction, Inspectors of 
Grammar Schools, the sum of £250 per annum having been appro- 
priated by the Legislature for the payment of such inspectors as 
might be appointed. The head master of the Normal School having 
resigned his Inspectorship, the Bey. Mr. Ormiston was, in 1857, 
appointed sole Inspector, an appointment the duties connected with 
which are sufficiently onerous to engage his full time, even although 
he had not the pastoral charge of a large congregation to attend to. 
The duties of Inspector, as prescribed by the Council of Public 
Instruction, are as follow : — 

" It shall be the duty of the Inspectors of the Grammar Schools to 
visit each Grammar School in the course of the year, and to make 
enquiry and examination, in such manner as they shall think proper, 
into all matters affecting the character and operations of the school, 
and especially in regard to the following things : — 

"I. Mechanical Arrangements. — The tenure of the property ; the 
materials, plan and dimensions of the building ; when erected and 
with what funds built ; neighborhood ; how lighted, warmed and 
ventilated ; if any class-rooms are provided for the separate instruc- 
tion of part of the pupils ; if there is a lobby or closet for hats, 
cloaks, book-presses, <fcc. ; how the desks and seats are arranged and 
constructed, and with what conveniences ; what arrangements for 
the teacher ; what play-ground is provided ; what gymnastic apparatus 
— if any ; whether there be a well, and proper conveniences for 
private purposes. 



EDUCATION. 117 

' ' II. Means of Instruction. — The books used in the several classes, 
under the heads of Latin, Greek, English, Arithmetic, Geography, 
&c. ; the apparatus provided, as maps, globes, black-boards, models, 
cabinets, library, &c. 

' ' III. Organization. — Arrangement of classes ; whether each pupil 
is taught by the same teacher ; if any assistant or assistants are em- 
ployed ; to what extent ; how remunerated ; how qualified. 

"IV. Discipline. — Hours of attendance; usual ages of pupils 
admitted ; if the pupils change places in their several classes, or 
whether they are marked at each lesson or exercise, according to their 
relative merits ; if distinction depends on intellectual proficiency, or 
on a mixed estimate of intellectual proficiency and moral conduct, or 
on moral conduct only ; what rewards, if any ; whether corporeal 
piuiishments are employed— if so, their nature, and whether inflicted 
publicly or privately ; what other punishments are used ; manage- 
ment in play hours ; whether attendance is regular ; what religious 
exercises are observed ; and what religious instruction is given, if 
any. 

"V. Method of Instruction. — Whether mutual, or simultaneous, 
or individual, or mixed ; if mutual, the number of monitors, their 
attainments, how appointed, how employed ; if simultaneous, that 
is by classes, in what subjects of instruction ; whether the simulta- 
neous method is not more or less mingled with individual teaching, 
and on what subjects ; to what extent the intellectual, or the mere 
rote method is pursued, and on what subjects ; how far the interro- 
gative method only is used ; whether the suggestive method is em- 
ployed ; whether the elliptical method is resorted to ; how the attain- 
ments in the lessons are variously tested — by individual oral interro- 
gation — by requiring written answers to written questions, or by 
requiring an abstract of the lesson to be written from memory. 

"VI. Attainments of Pupils. — 1. Reading ; whether they can read 
with ordinary facility only, or with ease and expression. Art of 
reading as prescribed in the programme — meaning and derivation of 
words. 2. Writing ; whether they can write with ordinary corrects 
ness, or with ease and elegance. 3. Drawing — Linear, Ornamental, 
Architectural, Geometrical ; whether taught, and in what manner. 
4. Arithmetic ; whether acquainted with the simple rules, and skilful 
in them ; whether acquainted with the tables of moneys, weights, 
measures, and skilful in them ; whether acquainted with the com- 
pound rules, and skilful in them ; whether acquainted with the higher 
rules, and skilful in them. 5. Book-keeping. 6. English Grammar ; 
whether acquainted with the rules of orthography, parts of speech, 



118 TOEONTO. 

their nature and modifications, parsing, composition ; whether ac- 
quainted with the grammatical structure and excellencies of the lan- 
guage by frequent composition in writing, and the critical reading 
and analysis of the English Classic authors, in both prose and poetry. 
7. Geography and History ; whether taught as prescribed in the 
official programme, and by questions suggested by the nature of the 
subject. 8. Outlines of English Literature ; how far taught and in 
what manner. 9. The Languages — Latin, Greek, and French : 
how many pupils in each of these languages ; whether well grounded 
in an accurate knowledge of their grammatical forms and principles, 
their proper pronunciation, peculiar structure and idioms, and 
whether taught by oral and written exercises and compositions in 
these languages, as well as by accurate and free translations of the 
standard authors. 10. Algebra and Geometry ; how many pupils 
and how far advanced in ; whether they are familiar with the defini- 
tions, and perfectly understand the reason, as well as practice, of each 
step in the process of solving each problem and demonstrating each 
proposition. 11. Elements of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, 
as prescribed in the programme ; whether taught ; what apparatus 
for teaching them ; how many pupils in each. 12. Vocal Music ; 
whether taught, and in what manner. 

" VII. Miscellaneous. — How many pupils have been sent from the 
school to, and how many are preparing to matriculate in some Uni- 
versity College. 2. Whether a register and visitors' book is kept, 
as required by the regulations, and whether the trustees visit the 
school. 3. Whether the pupils have been examined before being 
admitted to the school, and arranged in forms and divisions, as pre- 
scribed by the regulations ; and whether the required public exami- 
nations have been held. 4. What prizes or other means are offered 
or employed to excite pupils to competition and study. 5. How far 
the course of studies and method of discipline prescribed according to 
law, have been introduced and are pursued in the school ; and such 
other information in regard to the condition of the schools as may 
be useful in promoting the interest of Grammar Schools generally. " 

All this looks very well in theory, but it is very evident that the 
Council of Public Instruction have been unnecessarily and fasti- 
diously minute in their details of the duties of Grammar School 
Inspectors, in order to make a great show before the public, or they 
are not at all in earnest in expecting that the pastor of the largest 
congregation in the city of Hamilton can discharge them efficiently, 
regard being had to the sacred duties devolving upon liim. It is 
very doubtful whether Mr. Ormiston has now the time to devote to 



EDUCATION. 119 

this important work, and time is an essential element in efficient 
inspection. There are sixty-four Grammar Schools in the province, 
ranging from Sandwich to Cornwall, each of which must be visited 
during the year, and an inspection made, which, if the table of 
duties is of any use, would require at least two days to each school. 
The sixth section alone would require the best part of a week's 
examination before a report giving a faithful reply to all the points 
therein broached could be prepared, and each of the sixty-four 
schools requires its own examination and its separate report. Such 
appointments — although in favour of gentlemen eminently qualified 
by education and experience for the work — bring the most feasible 
plans into disrepute. The duties of Inspector had better not be 
performed at all than performed in a perfunctory manner. As 
well entrust the Rector or head-master of each school to be his own 
inspector. There are several highly educated gentlemen in the 
city following the profession of Classical teachers, well qualified for 
such a task, to whom £250 a-year would be an object, and for 
which they would willingly devote their whole time to the duties 
of their office. It is not in these days, when a determined hostility 
is manifested to the whole educational system of the Province, that 
the Council of Public Instruction can afford to trifle with the in- 
terests which have been entrusted to them. 

Model Grammar School. — In the Grammar and Common School 
Amendment Act for 1855, £1000 per annum are appropriated as a 
special grant " to be expended under the direction of the Council 
of Public Instruction for the establishment and maintenance of a 
Model Grammar School, in connexion with the Normal and Model 
Schools for Upper Canada, including any expenses which may be 
incurred in the examination of candidates for Masterships of Gram- 
mar Schools. " In pursuance of this appropriation, a handsome new 
building has been erected in rear of the Model Schools — at a cost, 
including fitting up — of somewhere about £6000, and is now in suc- 
cessful operation. The school was opened for the admission of 
pupils on the 9th of August, 1858. The Rector, George P. P. 
Cockburn, M. A. , comes from Edinburgh highly recommended by 
gentlemen eminent in classical learning. Dr. Zumpt bears the 
highest testimony to Mr. Cockburn's scholarship. Dr. Schmitz, 
Pector of the High School, Edinburgh, after stating that Mr. Cock- 
burn ' has made himself thoroughly conversant with the languages 
of Germany, France, and Italy, that he is not an ordinary scholar, 
but a thorough philologer,' concludes by saying, 'I regard Mr. 
Cockburn as one of the best Latin scholars that Scotland has pro- 



120 TORONTO. 

duced.' This is high commendation when it is remembered that 
George Buchanan and Arthur Johnston were both Scotchmen, but 
we believe Mr. Cockburn is a scholar and a gentleman. Mr. Sangster, 
principal of the Hamilton Central School, has been appointed First 
Master. John Kerr Johnston, B. A., Trinity College, Dublin, 
Assistant ; M. Coulon, French Master. The Music and Drawing 
Masters are those of the Normal School. The course of Instruction 
is given in last number of the Journal of Education, and is as follows : 

' ' The Model Grammar School, established by the Council of 
Public Instruction for Upper Canada, is mainly intended to exem- 
plify the best methods of teaching the branches required by law to 
be taught in the Grammar Schools, especially Classics and Mathe- 
matics, as a model for the Grammar Schools of the country. 

"The regular curriculum of five years embraces an extended 
course of instruction in Latin, Greek, Mathematics, French, Ger- 
man, English Grammar, Literature and Composition, History and 
Geography, both ancient and modern, Logic, Rhetoric, and Mental 
Science, NaturaJ. History and Physical Science, Evidences of Re- 
vealed Religion, the usual Commercial Branches, Drawing, Music, 
Gymnastic and Drill Exercises ; the more advanced Students will 
also attend Lectures in the various departments of Literature, 
Science and Art. 

"Only one hundred pupils will be admitted. 

"Accordingly, the numbers in each class will be strictly limited, in 
order that a due regard may be paid to the peculiar temper and dis- 
position of each pupil, and that the utmost efficiency may be secured 
in the cultivation of the intellectual faculties, and the inculcation 
not only of the principles but of the practice of a high-toned morality. 
Every pupil must follow the prescribed course of instruction, and 
pass the entrance examination in reading, spelling, writing, the 
simple and compound rules of arithmetic, the elements - of English 
grammar, and outlines of geography. 

' ' There are four Scholastic Terms— the same as those appointed for 
the County Grammar Schools — and the fee for admission is five 
dollars per term, payable in advance. 

"The school contains large and well ventilated class-rooms, with 
ante-rooms, a library, and a hall for assembling the whole school. 
The most recent improvements in school architecture and school 
furniture have been adopted. A large play-ground is attached, with 
covered sheds for exercise in wet weather. The course of instruction 
is so arranged as to prepare and strengthen the mind for the more 
severe study of each succeeding year. By the peculiar system of 



EDUCATION. 121 

discipline adopted, the conduct and application of the pupils will be 
regulated by motives similar to those by which our conduct in after 
life is influenced, and the various honours will be made to depend as 
much on good conduct as sound scholarship, 

"Pupils from a distance can board in private houses sanctioned by 
the Council, at prices agreed upon by the parents of the pupils and 
the keepers of the houses. A pupil will be allowed to board in any 
private family, at the request of his parents. 

"There are four Scholastic Terms in the year, and the fee at present 
is five dollars per quarter, payable in advance. 

"All applications for admission to be transmitted in writing to the 
Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada." 

Having prescribed a variety of rules for the guidance of the 
Institution, the Rector says : To render these rules really efficient, I 
purpose adopting the following routine : — 

"A monthly report shall be sent to each parent or guardian, bj^ 
which he shall be regularly advised of his son's or ward's conduct 
and standing in the various branches of study. These the parent, 
after signing, shall cause to be delivered to me. — But as these are 
sometimes signed as a mere form, and a pupil is thus allowed 
gradually to accumulate, often through mere thoughtlessness, a 
pretty large account of demerit marks, and thus become exposed to 
severe penalties, I shall, whenever the demerit marks amount to 25, 
call the immediate attention of the parent to the danger. By ex- 
plaining to him the nature of the demerit marks, I shall secure his 
co-operation in resisting the beginnings of evil — one of the great 
objects of a sound education. Moreover, I shall furnish him with a 
daily report of his son's conduct, so that he may, by constant and 
^steady pressure, bring about the desired change, which no sudden or 
violent effort could have effected. The parent also of every pupil 
admitted on trial after suspension shall be furnished with a similar 
daily report. 

By adopting the plan here sketched, every pupil will be made to 
feel that the honors of the school must be obtained by good conduct 
as well as by superior abilities, as every demerit mark will materially 
affect the average of scholarship which determines his standing in 
the class. The pupils will thus be more than educated ; they will 
be trained. No violent measures, but a moderate pressure steadily 
applied and everywhere felt, will be the guiding principle of the 
system, and the habits, thus gradually and almost unconsciously 
formed, of punctuality and exactness in the discharge of every duty^ 
will be the best guarantee for the future." 

i 



122 TORONTO. 

It will be observed by the Time Table, and the remarks which 
follow it, that the Rector is determined to make the pupils indus- 
trious at home that they may be diligent and attentive at school : — 

Time Table, 
a. m. p. M. 



9 to 9. 15 Prayers. 
9.15 to 10.45 Classes. 
10.45 to 11.0 Play. 
11 to 12.30 Classes. 



12.30 to 2.0 Recess. 
2.0 to 4.15 Classes. 
4.15 . . Prayers. 
4.30 . . Dismissal. 



Parents and Guardians are respectfully informed that their sons 
or wards have certain lessons prescribed for every evening, and they 
are particularly requested to allow no arrangement to interfere with 
the due preparation of them. From two-and-a-half to three hours 
and a-half are required for that purpose, according to the class and 
ability of the pupil. 

Pupils who do not go home during the recess from 12 "30 to 2 
P. M. , may, during inclement weather, obtain the Hector's permis- 
sion to pass the time in the School Library. 

A Lavatory, with every convenience, has been provided ; and 
each pupil has a private box or compartment for his books, luncheon, 
<fec. 

Particular care must be taken of the buildings, internal fittings, 
and furniture. Writing or marking on the walls, throwing stones 
or other missiles ; cutting the desks, forms, or otherwise defacing 
the furniture, — are strictly forbidden. Any injury committed in 
these respects is repaired at the expense of those implicated, and 
will be otherwise punished. 

Pupils are required to maintain a neat and gentlemanly appear- 
ance in their dress, as well as a gentlemanly demeanor towards each, 
other. 

Any suggestions regarding the character and treatment of their 
sons, will be gratefully received from parents." 

District School. — In 1807, in the first session of the Parlia- 
ment convened by Governor Gore, an appropriation of £800 a year 
for four years was made for the purpose of paying the salaries of 
Grammar School teachers in the eight districts into which the Upper 
Province had been divided. This appropriation was in a subsequent 
session made permanent. The Home District School, one of the 
eight, was located in the capital, and was opened in 1807, under the 
superintendence of the Rev. George Okill Stuart, in a small wooden 
building, in the centre of a six "acre block, between Church and 



EDUCATION. 123 

Nelson Streets, granted by Government for the purposes of the 
School. In 1812, the Rev. Mr. Stuart was succeeded by the Rev. 
Dr. Strachan, who had been appointed Rector of York. Dr. 
Strachan resigned his charge of the school on the 1st of July, 1823. 
In 1825, Dr. Philips assumed the Head Mastership; and in the 
following year he was joined by G. A. Barber, who had been his 
assistant-teacher in England. Dr. Philips remained in the school 
until it merged in the Upper Canada College, in 1830. The Dis- 
trict School remained closed for some time after the College re- 
moved. In 1839, Mr. Crombie was appointed Head Master, which 
situation he held till his death, in 1853. He was succeeded by 
M. C. Howe, A.B., Trinity College, Dublin, the present incum- 
bent, who was appointed on the 8th of May, 1853. Mr. Howe has 
three assistants, William Clark, First English Master ; Archibald 
McMurchy, Mathematical Master ; and M. Coulon, French Master, 
Average attendance from 80 to 100. The fees average $4 a quarter, 
having a gradation from $3 to $5 according to age of pupils. 

It was contemplated, a short time ago, by a union of the Grammar 
School Trustees with the Board of Trustees for Common Schools, to 
form a gradation of schools, the Grammar School being the high 
school of the city, town, or village, — the Common Schools forming 
primary and secondary schools, as nurseries for the principal school, 
and being open to all without examination, the Grammar School 
teaching the higher branches, with the classics and mathematics, and 
being only open to those common school pupils and others, whose 
literary qualifications enabled them to pass the required examina- 
tion. Such a union would be attended with very beneficial results, 
as a uniform system could be adopted, both as regards instruction 
and classification, and much valuable time would be saved thereby. 
The Grammar School Trustees have hitherto rejected the proposal, 
and at present the Grammar Schools are, in a measure, isolated from 
the other educational institutions of the Province, and are managed 
by different boards. They are supported by special annual grant 
from Government, and by the proceeds of the land appropriation of 
1798. Each Senior Grammar School receives £100 per annum of 
special grant, and a proportionate share of the Grammar School 
Fund. There are sixty-four Grammar Schools in the upper Pro- 
vince, thirty senior and thirty-four junior. The amount of the 
investment, as the proceeds of the sales of the grammar school lands, 
was in 1857 £67,400, and the sum at the disposal of the Chief Su- 
perintendent, the interest of this fund together with a special ap- 
propriation, was in 1858 £6,528. Of this sum £4,000 was divided 



124 TOEONTO. 

proportionately between the sixty-four schools, the senior schools 
having their £100 each in addition. Our City Grammar School is 
on the same principle, although I have no doubt steps will shortly 
be taken to place it on a different footing, and to make it a more 
important feature in the educational system of the city. For several 
years the Trustees have made application to the City Council for 
support, as the sum allotted to the school is not sufficient to main- 
tain its staff of teachers. The annual grant given by the Council is 
£250. When this school was instituted, the building was located in 
the centre of a six acre block, granted to the school as already stated. 
On the establishment of Upper Canada College, however, the dis- 
trict school-house was removed from its original site to the line of 
Nelson Street, and fenced into a plot about 70 feet by 120 feet. 
The remaining portion of the six acres was handed over to Upper 
Canada College. On the departure of the classes of the College in 
1831 to their new building, the Grammar School was shut up, as 
superseded by a more liberally endowed rival, but the inhabitants of 
the eastern part of the city having remonstrated against the course 
pursued, the school was accordingly re-opened ; but although the 
school was secured to the city, the College authorities not only re- 
fused to give up the five and a half acres originally granted as an 
endowment to the Grammar School, but very recently advertised 
the site of the school for sale, and were only prevented by the 
Trustees from selling it. The matter was referred to the law officers 
of the Crown, and it is stated that the Attorney General decided 
that the property belonged of right to the Grammar School, but 
from that day to this the authority to resume possession of the 
same has not been given to the Trustees. The present school- 
house is a mere wreck, on the verge of dilapidation, and presenting 
more the external appearance of a slaughter house than that of a 
County Grammar School. 

A programme of studies has been prepared for the Grammar 
Schools, and adopted by the Council of Public Instruction, which, 
when thoroughly carried into effect, will tend to promote more 
efficiently the legitimate objects of these institutions. 

Common Schools. — The city is well supplied with public or com- 
mon schools, where a sound elementary instruction is afforded, free 
of expense, fco all who choose to attend. There is no law compelling 
the attendance of all boys and girls, within school age, although it 
is a question for grave consideration with the Board of Trustees, 
whether the free school system is complete without such a regulation, 
not only as an incentive to virtue and honest industry, but as a 



EDUCATION - . 125 

means of luring from vicious haunts and mischievous practices. As 
Toronto is the head quarters of the common school system, the cen- 
tral force which gives vitality to the common school system of Upper 
Canada in all its ramifications, it may not be out of place here, 
briefly to state what that centralization is. Annual grants have 
been made by Parliament in aid of the common schools throughout 
the Province for nearly 50 years past. In 1816, an Act was passed 
for the establishment of common schools, and providing that £6,000 
should be annually paid for this object. Of this sum, the Home Dis- 
trict received £600. In 1819, it was directed that annual examina- 
tions of the schools be held, — that annual reports be rendered by the 
Trustees, — that free education should be given in each school to ten 
•children of the poorer inhabitants, elected by ballot, and that the 
teachers should not receive more than £50 a year unless the average 
number of scholars exceeded 10. In 1820, the Act of 1816 was re- 
pealed in so far as the £6,000 grant was concerned and £2,500 sub- 
stituted, to be divided equally amongst the schools of the ten dis- 
tricts in which Upper Canada was then divided, and permission was 
given to the Board of Education to appoint a clerk and pay him £5 
per annum. In 1824, £150 was voted for books and tracts to be 
divided amongst the districts. In 1833, an Act was passed increas- 
ing the grant of common schools and £5,650 was appropriated for 
1833 and 34 in addition to the £2,500 of the Act of 1820, and of this 
sum the Home District received £750 annually. But it was not till 
1841 that the first law was passed embodying the principle of granting 
money to each county upon condition of such county raising an equal 
amount in local taxation. A Bill for this purpose was introduced 
into the Legislature by the Hon. S. B. Harrison, then Secretary of 
the Province. In 1843, another Bill was introduced by the Hon. 
Erancis Hincks, and passed into law, which very much simplified 
the law of 1841. In 1844, the office of Superintendent of Schools 
which had been previously vested in the Secretary of the Province, 
in an ex-officio sense, was conferred upon the present incumbent, 
the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D. Being a native Canadian, and 
desirous to discharge the duties of his important office in accordance 
with the most approved methods of teaching, the Chief Superintend- 
ent craved leave of absence for a year before entering upon his 
charge, that he might visit other countries and examine into their 
educational systems. The whole of the year 1845 was employed in 
visiting the principal educational establishments in Europe and 
America, and the results of these enquiries were embodied in a 
"Report on a System of Public Elementary Instruction for Upper 



126 TOEOKTO. 

Canada " to the Legislature, and a draft Bill embodying the princi- 
ples of that Report was introduced into the Legislative Assembly by 
the Hon. W. H. Draper, then Attorney General, and became law 
in 1846. In 1847, a Bill for establishing a system of schools in 
cities and incorporated towns, introduced by the Hon. J. H. Cam- 
eron, then Solicitor General, became law. These two Acts, improved 
and modified by experience in carrying out the system, were incor- 
porated into one Act in a Bill introduced by the Hon. Francis 
Hincks, then Inspector General, and became law in 1850. In a 
subsequent Act, passed in 1853, several defects which had been found 
to exist in the previous Acts were remedied, and some omissions 
supplied. Our educational system may be appropriately termed the 
composite order of public elementary instruction, embodying as it 
does some of the features of the four most prominent systems of 
elementary instruction in Europe and America. It combines in one 
grand whole, the machinery of the New York system, the principle 
of supporting schools as adopted in Massachusetts, the series of ele- 
mentary text books of the National Board of Education in Ireland, 
with the Normal School training of teachers, and the principles and 
modes of teaching found to exist in Germany. Sir Matthew Hale 
has wisely said : ' ' Christianity is parcel of the laws of England, and 
therefore to reproach the Christian religion is to speak in subversion 
of the law. " In like manner Christianity is parcel of our educa- 
tional system. All the clergy in the land, in their official character, 
take part with the people in its practical operations, ' ' maintaining 
absolute parental supremacy in the religious instruction of their 
children, and upon this principle providing for it, according to the 
circumstances, and under the auspices of the elected trustee repre- 
sentatives of each school municipality." 

The system is engrafted upon the Municipal institutions of the 
country. The Municipal Council of each Township divides such 
Township into school sections of suitable extent ; levies such a sum 
1 ' by assessment upon the taxable property in any school section for 
purchase of a school, the erection, repairs, and furnishing of a school- 
house, the purchase of apparatus and text-books for the school, 
books for the library, salary for the teachers, <fcc. , as shall be desired 
by the Trustees of such school section on behalf of the majority of 
the freeholders or householders at a public meeting called for such 
purpose." The Trustees — six for each Incorporated Village — are 
elected by the popular vote of the freeholders or householders of the 
school section, and their duty is to appoint a local superintendent, 
employ teachers, determine what sums are necessary for the furnish- 



EDUCATION. 127 

ing or support of the schools, fix the salaries of the teachers, and in 
every way carry out the system of instruction established, accounting 
annually to the Local Superintendent of Schools for the moneys 
received from the Municipal Council, who, in his turn, sends hi an 
annual report to the Chief Superintendent of Education. 

As the duties of Teachers are prescribed by law, no Teacher is 
entitled to any part of the School Fund who does not conduct his 
school according to law, and who has not a legal certificate of quali- 
fication from a County Board of Public Instruction. Local Super- 
intendents are appointed, as before stated, by the County Councils, 
and are required to visit each school in their circuit at least once in 
a quarter, to deliver a public lecture on education in each school- 
section at least once a year, and apportion the school moneys to the 
several school sections in their respective jurisdictions, giving checks 
upon the County Treasurer on the order of Trustees to qualified 
Teachers ; to aid in the examination of Teachers, and to report 
annually to the Chief Superintendent according to forms furnished by 
the Educational Department for that purpose. All Clergymen recog- 
nized by Law, Judges, Members of the Legislature, Magistrates, 
Members of Municipal Councils, are school visitors to visit all the 
schools as far as practicable within their respective charges and 
municipalities. The law authorizes the holding of general meetings 
of school visitors in any municipality on the application of any two 
visitors, to devise such means as they may deem expedient for the 
efficient visitation of the schools, and to promote the establishment 
of libraries and the diffusion of useful knowledge. 

There is a Board of Public Instruction in each County, consisting 
of the Local Superintendents and Grammar School Trustees in such 
County. By this Board the Teachers in each County respectively 
are examined and arranged into three classes, according to a pro- 
gramme of examination prescribed by the Council of Public Instruc- 
tion for Upper Canada. 

At the head of the whole is the Council of Public Instruction and 
a Chief Superintendent of Education appointed by the Crown. The 
entire management of the Normal and Model Schools — Grammar 
and Common — is vested in this Council. They recommend the text- 
books for the schools, and books for the libraries ; make regulations 
for the organization, government and discipline of the schools ; the 
examination and classification of Teachers, and the establishment 
and care of School Libraries, throughout the Province. The Chief 
Superintendent is the main spring of the whole movement. He 
apportions the School Fund ; prepares the regulations for the schools 



128 TORONTO. 

and the forms of reports for the Local Superintendents ; takes the 
general superintendence of the Normal School, provides facilities for 
obtaining text-books and library books ; prepares annual reports, 
and corresponds with local school authorities throughout Upper 
Canada ; and, in fact, controls the whole machinery which, by his 
prudence and sagacity, has been set in motion. He is assisted by a 
Deputy Superintendent and a staff of Clerks, also appointed by the 
Crown. In 1846 the Council of Public Instruction was composed of 
seven members ; in 1850 other two members were added ; and in 
1853 the Rev. Dr. McCaul, President of University College, was 
added as a member — ex officio — for Grammar School purposes. The 
members of the Council are : — Hon. S. B. Harrison, Q.C., Chair- 
man ; Rev. Dr. Ryerson ; Right Rev. A. F. M. de Charbonnell, 
D.D., Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto; Rev. H. J. Grassett, 
B.D. ; Hon. J. C. Morrison, Q.C. ; J. S. Howard; Rev. John 
Jennings, D.D. ; Rev. Adam Lillie, D.D. ; Rev. John Barclay, D.D. ; 
Rev. Dr. McCaul; J. G. Hodgins, M.A., Recording Clerk. 

The principle of continuity upon which this Council is appointed 
operates somewhat against its efficiency. The public mind does not 
seem to repose that confidence in a Council appointed once and for 
all time, which such a body to be efficient ought to enjoy. It is 
barely possible that all the literary and educational talent of Toronto 
is concentrated in any nine or ten gentlemen, representing although 
they do the Bar, the Bench, the Pulpit, and the Oratory. Nor is it 
found practically the fact that a body permanently appointed con- 
tinues for a long series of years to meet with that regularity and 
interest which characterized their earlier operations, and the conse- 
quence is, that the work is done by a moiety of the Board. This 
difficulty would be obviated if the Council were renewed every four 
years by such a body as the Senate of the University, representing as 
that body does every shade of feeling in the city, and incomparably 
better fitted to make such a selection than the Governor in Council, 
composed as our Government generally is of gentlemen who have 
but a very imperfect knowledge of our most worthy literary men. 
There is another evil incident to a life appointment to such a Board. 
It gives some members an opportunity to assume dictatorial airs, as 
if they alone were the wise, and ivisdoyn would die with them. An 
instance of this kind occurred very recently, where a member of the 
Council wrote to one of the Masters of the Normal School, stating 
that he intended to make his teaching a subject of enquiry before the 
Council, and in all probability his services would be dispensed with. 
The Master — a thoroughly educated and spirited young gentleman — 



EDUCATION. 129 

at once wrote out his resignation, his friend and companion in 
office concurring in the step, and took it to the Chief Superintendent, 
showing him at the same time the letter which he had received. No 
sooner, however, was it known in the school, than a petition was 
drawn up by the students, and signed by them all, praying the 
Council not to accept the resignation of a Master whom they so 
highly respected, and under whose instructions they derived so much 
benefit. What may be the result remains for time to evolve, but 
such an interference on the part of any individual member of the 
Council deserves the severest reprobation. It is well known that no 
one member of the Council has a right to interfere with any appoint- 
ment made by the whole body, and if the Chief Superintendent, at 
great expense and upon the highest recommendations, induces 
teachers of a superior order to take part with him in working out the 
admirable system which he has laboured so much to perfect, it is 
indicative of a total absence of gentlemanly feeling for any member 
of the Council to meddle in his individual capacity with matters 
which belong alone to the whole governing body. 

I have thus given an outline — brief indeed — of the mode in which 
our City Schools as well as all the Common Schools in Upper Canada 
are regulated. Our City Board of Trustees is composed of fourteen 
gentlemen — two from each ward — chosen by the popular vote of the 
householders in the City and holding office for two years — one half 
retiring annually. The annual Legislative Grant is now £32,500. 
This as already stated is apportioned by the Chief Superintendent, 
according to the school population, each Municipality raising at 
least an equal amount to that granted by Government. The appor- 
tionment for the City of Toronto in 1857 was £1, 100, and the sum 
raised by the Corporation was £6, 157 10s. for all school purposes. 

In connexion with the Public Schools, a system of public or 
School Libraries has been established, upon the principle that if it is 
the duty of the Legislature to provide for the education of the 
people by the establishment of public schools, it is equally their duty 
to provide all possible facilities and means for supplying these 
schools with the maps, apparatus and libraries which render them 
most instrumental in educating and instructing the people. Lord 
Elgin, in one of his addresses delivered shortly before leaving the 
Province, referred to the "Township and County Libraries as the 
crown and glory of the Institutions of the Province." In 1850 a 
grant of £3,000 was made by the Legislature for the establishment 
of Libraries, and arrangements having been made by the Chief 
Superintendent with the principal publishers in England and in the 



130 TORONTO. 

United States for a supply of the books selected, the first Library 
was despatched from the Educational Department in 1853. Since 
then, up to the end of 1857, 163,003 volumes have been sent out to 
form Libraries in various sections of the Province. The annual 
Library Grant is now increased to £6,500, besides a separate annual 
grant of £2, 500 for maps and school apparatus. 

One other feature of the system requires to be mentioned, and in 
this feature power is shown to be blended with mercy ; for, while the 
Normal School has facilities for training Teachers on an extensive 
scale for the supply of the wants of the Province, the pioneers of 
education — those men who have worn out a hardy constitution, 
contending against the difficulties and hardships of spreading educa- 
tion in sparsely-peopled districts, are not cast ruthlessly aside to 
give place to those, not more deserving, though more highly favored, 
who are not only educated partly at the public expense, but receive 
much higher salaries when their education is completed. For the 
superannuation of Teachers, £1000 is annually appropriated by 
Government, and is equally divided amongst all Teachers disqualified 
by age or otherwise from pursuing their profession. To this fund 
each Teacher in the Province is required to contribute annually £1, 
and, as there are 4,083 teachers, 2,787 males, and 1,296 females 
reported in Upper Canada, and the demand greater than the supply, 
this fund will shortly be greatly increased. The superannuated 
allowance to each teacher is £1 10s. for each year of service as a 
school teacher in Upper Canada. If for example a teacher has spent 
20 years in his profession in Canada, he will receive from the fund 
£30 a-year for the rest of his life. If he has only been 10 years in 
the Province, he will only receive half that sum, and so on according 
to the number of years engaged as a teacher in the Province. This 
beneficent feature of the system is worthy of admiration, for it is 
not unfrequently the case that where no such bounty is provided, 
you will see one who has played a not unimportant part on the 
world's stage, display, when the almond tree begins to flourish, the 
picture of "a poor scholar," or of gentility in ruins. 

Separate Schools. — Of late years the Separate School provisions 
in the Common School Acts have given rise to a great amount of 
meaningless stump oratory. Not a few have bawled lustily for the 
abolition of all Separate School provisions, without ever troubling 
themselves to consider whether the object they ostensibly aimed at 
thereby is attainable, and, if attainable, whether the principle of 
coercion is one which ought to form the basis of the system, — or 
whether any national system of education is worth the price of the 



EDUCATION. 131 

paper upon which its provisions are printed — if an emasculating 
process in text-books, and modes of governance and discipline 
require to be resorted to in order to its establishment. One thing 
may be taken for granted, that men in comfortable circumstances 
will not be coerced in regard to the education of their children. 
Our own City Free Schools afford ample confirmation of the state- 
ment. For while each Rate-payer pays his quota for the support of 
these Schools, all do not take advantage of their facilities. You 
find quite a number of private Schools and Academies maintained at 
the expense of the parties who pay to support the Free Schools. 
The mere abolition of the Separate School clauses would not bring 
Roman Catholics within the pale of the National Schools, nor 
would it produce that profound peace and satisfaction which some 
persons imagine. On the contrary, a determined hostility would be 
exerted towards a system of injustice which would seek to deprive 
them of their due proportion of the funds which they contribute to 
the general exchequer. This would undoubtedly be the result, and 
all the false philosophy which has been wasted upon the public 
within these few years, will not alter the question one iota. Men 
will not be coerced in educational matters, and it is unwise to attempt 
it. While;, therefore, Separate Schools may be considered as only 
injurious to those who take advantage of them, the privilege of 
establishing them in a community such as ours, and in a free 
country, is an absolute necessity. We have seen enough of the 
mawkish cake -and-plum-pudding text-books — used not a thousand 
miles from this — to satisfy us that the introduction of a national 
system, which required such auxiliaries, would only be paving the 
way for a wholesale frittering away of the stamina of the youthful 
mind. 

In the session of 1841 — the first after the union of Upper and 
Lower Canada — a School Act was passed, permitting the establish- 
ment of separate Protestant and Roman Catholic Schools under 
certain circumstances. This Act was amended in 1843 by a Bill 
introduced into the House by the Hon. F. Hincks, then Inspector 
General, permitting the establishment of a Separate School, Pro- 
testant or Catholic, upon the application of ten or more resident 
freeholders or householders of any School district ; or within the 
limits assigned to any town or city school. In the School Act of 
1846, amending and superseding the Act of 1843, and establishing 
a Council of Public Instruction, and providing for the Normal 
School in the City, the provisions of the Act of 1843 in reference to 
Separate Schools were re-enacted. In the School Act of 1847, 



132 TOBONTO. 

introduced by Hon. J. H. Cameron, creating one Board of School 
Trustees and providing for the establishment of schools in the cities 
and towns of Upper Canada, the power of determining the "num- 
ber, sites and descriptions of schools — which shall be established and 
maintained in such city or town, and whether such school or schools 
shall be denominational or mixed," was vested in the Board of 
Trustees created by the Act. This Act failed to give satisfaction. 
The Common School Act of 1850 followed, introduced by Hon. F. 
Hincks, embracing all the provisions of the Acts of 1846-7, and 
such additions and modifications as experience rendered necessary. 
The 19th section of this Act provided for the establishment of Sepa- 
rate Schools ; the election of Separate School Trustees ; determined 
the share of the School fund to which they were entitled, and the 
returns which the Trustees were required to make. Some difficulty 
arose under this Act in consequence of an application having been 
made for the establishment of a second Roman Catholic Separate 
School in Toronto — and objected to as contrary to the provisions of 
the Act. The Court of Queen's Bench having sustained the objec- 
tion, a short Act was introduced in the following session by the 
Hon. John Ross. This Act received the Royal assent in Aug. , 1851. 
In 1853, however, the Supplementary School Act, introduced by 
Hon. W. B. Richards, was passed, modifying the Act of 1850 in 
regard to Separate Schools. The Chief Superintendent was very 
desirous to ascertain the mind of the people of Upper Canada in 
regard to the 4th or Separate School section of this Act, and for this 
purpose made an official tour through the Province, holding a 
public school-meeting in each County and explaining the draft of 
the Supplementary Bill. He then proceeded to Quebec to submit 
the draft to the Government, and the Bill was introduced and passed 
without a division. This was expected to settle the question, but 
unfortunately, in 1855, the Hon. Col. Tache' began to dabble in 
Upper Canada School matters, but it had been well for the interests 
of Roman Catholics themselves that he had refrained from such a 
step — as the provisions of this Act are ' - not so convenient for the 
supporters of Separate Schools as the fourth section of the Supple- 
mentary School Act." 

Every school established under this Act is " entitled to a share in 
the fund annually granted by the Legislature for the support of 
common schools, according to the average number of pupils attend- 
ing such school during the twelve next preceding months, or during 
the number of months which may have elapsed from the establish- 
ment of a new separate school as compared with the whole number 



EDUCATION. 133 

of pupils attending school in the same city, town, village, or town- 
ship. " The average number of pupils must be 15 or more before 
any share is given ; and no separate school is entitled to ' ' any part 
or portion of school moneys arising or accruing from local assess- 
ment for common school purposes, within any city, town, village, or 
township. " 

The trustees of each are required, on or before the last days of 
June and December, in each year, to ' ' transmit to the Chief Super- 
intendent of Schools for Upper Canada, a correct statement of the 
names of the children attending such school, together with the aver- 
age attendance during the six next preceding months, or during the 
number of months which may have elapsed since the establishment 
thereof, and the number of months it shall have been so kept open, 
and the Chief Superintendent thereupon determines the proportion 
which the trustees of such separate schools will be entitled to receive 
out of such legislative grant, and shall pay over the amount thereof 
to such trustees, and every such statement shall be verified under 
oath before any Justice of the Peace for the county or union of 
counties within which such separate school is situate by at least one 
of the trustees making the same." 

' ' The Local Superintendent of each Municipality has authority 
to visit, in his official capacity, such separate schools within his juris- 
diction, as are entitled to receive a share of the Public School Grant 
in the same manner as the common schools." 

Such is the present Legislative position of the separate schools. 
The utmost facility is given for their establishment ; but the regula- 
tions of the Educational Department must be strictly adhered to 
before any share of the Legislative grant is apportioned to them. 
The introduction of this last Act of 1855, caused a considerable 
manifestation of hostile feeling to Separate Schools in Upper Canada 
as it was considered that that Act in its inchoate state aimed a blow 
at our school system. The ministry, however, bent gracefully as 
the willow, before the blast of indignation with which the Act was 
met by the western representatives, and the Act in its modified state 
left matters pretty much where it found them. Fortunately that 
rancorous feeling has greatly subsided, except where parties assume 
a virtuous indignation for mere stage effect. It would be well that the 
question were removed as far as possible from the arena of party 
politics, for all are alike interested in the welfare of the Province in 
a social and educational point of view. Out of the 3,742 common 
schools in Upper Canada, there are 108 separate schools, established 
in 64 out of the 400 municipalities of the Western Province, and 



134 TOEONTO. 

these exist mostly in city, town, and village municipalities, where 
the Chief Superintendent says, " they certainly do no harm to any- 
body, except to those who establish them." 

The first separate school was opened in Toronto in 1843. There 
are now six Roman Catholic separate schools in the city, with a 
registered attendance of 1,286 pupils, — an average of 214 to each 
school. There are twelve teachers in connexion with these, eight 
brothers of Religious Orders, and eight sisters of Religious Orders. 
The schools are all opened with prayer. The amount of income de- 
rived by these schools for the past year, from Legislative grant, local 
tax on supporters, and amount subscribed by supporters, was £1039 
7s. lOd. , of which sum £550 was paid to teachers, and £489 7s. lOd. 
devoted to other purposes connected with the schools. 

Seminaries for Young- Ladies. — Although ample provision is 
made, as has been stated, for general mercantile and classical educa- 
tion of a high order for boys, yet we have no superior education 
provided for girls. They may spend a few years in the Model 
School or in the Common School, but then they are left to shift for 
themselves. This is the only defect in our educational system, but 
it is a very grave defect ; for whatever tends to enlighten, elevate, 
and ennoble woman, is in the most direct, important, and influential 
manner calculated to give to society a healthy moral sympathetic 
tone. Men may be polished by education, and may be only so much 
better fitted to seclude themselves from society for the more arduous 
prosecution of their respective studies. But woman cannot be edu- 
cated and refined, without diffusing around her the genial influences 
of such refinement. Whatever has the tendency, then, to make 
home happy, either by operating upon society directly as a whole, 
or more indirectly by exercising a hallowed influence upon some of its 
component parts, — which influence is again to be reflected on each 
little family group and blended with all the sweet associations of 
home, — and, like the concentric circles on the bosom of some placid 
lake, widen and expand until it has reached the limits of the social 
state, — is worthy of the gravest consideration of the wise and good. 
There may be difficulties attending the establishment of Institutions 
on the same liberal scale for superior female education that males 
now enjoy in the U. C. College and University College, but we have 
hitherto failed to appreciate these difficulties ; and we know not 
upon what principle it is that the boys of a family should be educated 
by the community at large, while the girls are left to be educated or 
not, as their parents have the means or the inclination to do so. 
The direct and immediate effect of such short-sighted policy, in a 



THE PBESS. 135 

community like ours, where outward show assumes the place of 
native worth, is to degrade the female mind by not only withholding 
the suitable means of culture, but by training it to look to other 
sources for its influence upon society. In the meantime, however, 
we have several very excellent Seminaries in town for the education 
of young ladies. These schools are well attended generally, and a 
good education is afforded ; but, until some more liberal provision 
is made for female education, our educational system will be radi- 
cally incomplete. 



SECTION VI.— THE PRESS. 

The Press is the great educator of the adult population of the 
Province, and is only second in importance to our Educational 
establishments for the training of the rising hopes of the country, 
Canada boasts of a free press, in the largest acceptation of the term. 
The press is free to publish whatever the Editor may list ; free from 
fiscal exactions and stamp duties of every kind, and freely and 
gratuitously circulated by the indulgence of the Post Office Depart- 
ment through all quarters of the Province. Every little town or 
village, therefore, that can boast of a church and a tavern, must 
have its newspaper, in which to expatiate on the superiority and 
salubrity of its respective locality ; to advertise its eligibility as a 
place of business and the vast extent and fertility of the surrounding 
district which pours in its untold resources into this favored mart. 
Not unfrequently these local papers are started or mainly supported, 
for a time at least, by some political aspirant, who, by the influence 
which he may bring to bear for or against the administration for the 
time being, expects to clear a path for his own advancement. It 
would ill become me to speak of the way in which many of these 
papers are conducted, but it is evident to the most casual observer 
that their power for good is considerably neutralized by the spirit 
and tone which they display. This is, however, but as the rust on the 
mirror which dims not those parts which remain untarnished. The 
press as a whole is conducted in a manner creditable to the Province. 

There are at present four large and respectable daily papers in the 
city — the Globe, the Colonist, the Leader, and the Atlas — and the 
facilities which the publishers now enjoy of sending their papers free 
of postage to all their patrons, have largely increased the daily circu- 
lation. The Globe is Ultra-Reform in politics ; the Colonist Moderate 
Conservative ; the Leader Moderate Reform ; the Atlas Tory ; and 



136 TOEONTO. 

although throughout the country they may be chiefly supported by 
those parties respectively whose particular shade of politics they may 
be supposed to represent, they are in the city taken pretty much by 
business men indiscriminately, for their advertisements and arrivals of 
steamers from England with the news of whatever may agitate Lon- 
don — the centre of civilization and the mart of the world's commerce. 
Besides these daily papers we have the Christian Guardian, denomi- 
national, weekly ; the Mirror, denominational, weekly ; the Catholic 
Freeman, denominational, weekly ; Mackenzie's Weekly Message ; 
and the Old Countryman, semi- weekly ; the Journal of the Canadian 
Institute, monthly ; the Gospel Tribune, a monthly religious maga- 
zine ; the Journal of Education, monthly, published under the 
auspices of the Educational Department ; the Canadian Agricul- 
turist, monthly ; the United Presbyterian Magazine, monthly, 
denominational ; and the Record, Free Church, monthly ; the Eccle- 
siastical Gazette, Church of England, monthly ; besides several weekly 
small sheets of a more ephemeral cast. 

The oldest paper in the City is the Christian Guardian, weekly, 
commenced in 1829 by the Rev. Dr. Ryerson, and published by the 
Wesleyan Methodist Conference in connection with their Book Room 
on King Stret. The Rev. James Spencer has very ably edited the 
Guardian for the last seven years. Mr. Spencer has recently 
patented an invention for addressing papers. It is an ingenious 
machine and suits the purpose admirably. 

The Mirror, a Roman Catholic weekly, was commenced in 1836 
and published by Mr. Charles Donlevy until his decease a few weeks 
ago. 

The British Colonist was commenced by Mr. Hugh Scobie in 1838, 
and conducted with great spirit for a number of years as a semi- 
weekly. In 1851 Mr. Scobie published the Colonist in a reduced 
size as a daily paper, still retaining the semi-weekly and weekly 
editions. On the death of Mr. Scobie, in 1853, the Colonist passed 
into the hands of Samuel Thompson & Co. , till then the proprietors 
of the Daily Patriot, who published it up to the 15th of February, 
1858, when it was transferred to George Sheppard & Co. , and edited 
by Mr. Sheppard and Mr. Daniel Morrison as the organ of the 
Macdonald-Cartier administration. A few weeks ago, on the forma- 
tion of the Brown-Dorion Government, it was transferred by Mr. 
Sheppard to Mr. Morrison, its present proprietor, publisher, and 
talented editor. 

The Globe was commenced by Mr. George Brown in 1844 as a 
weekly. In 1846 it was published semi-weekly, and in 1849 tri- 



THE PRESS. 137 

weekly. As the organ of the Baldwin-Lafontaine and Hincks- 
Baldwin Governments, the Globe attained a large circulation and a 
firm hold upon the Reform element of the province. In the end of 
1853 the Globe was published as a daily, and now circulates very 
extensively throughout the province. 

The Leader was commenced in 1852 and published as a daily by 
Mr. James Beaty, under the editorial supervision of Mr. Charles 
Lindsay, formerly political editor of the Examiner. A semi- weekly, 
weekly, and evening edition of the Leader are also published. 

The Catholic Citizen commenced in 1853 by the Messrs. Hayes as 
a weekly organ of the Catholic interest in the city. It ceased to 
exist, however, a short time ago, and another of a somewhat different 
stripe has sprung from its ashes. 

The Old Countryman was commenced as a weekly in 1853 by Mr. 
William Hope, and subsequently published as a semi- weekly under 
the name of the Toronto Times. 

Mr. William Lyon Mackenzie, M.P.P., the oldest, most exten- 
sively informed, and most indefatigable newspaper editor in the pro- 
vince, commenced the publication of his Message in 1854, presenting 
his readers weekly with a Literary Ambigu of the most inimitable 
composition. Tins literary veteran published the first number of 
the Colonial Advocate on the 1st of May, 1824, during the Adminis- 
tration of Sir Peregrine Maitland, a paper which, shortly after its 
commencement "disturbed the Governor's prospects of dignified 
repose with pungent diatribes on packed juries and government 
abuses, though as yet warily and cautiously expressed,"* and got 
its editor into all sorts of imaginable difficulties. With the excep- 
tion of a short cessation in 1826, ' l when during a temporary absence 
from home, his printing office was broken into by parties of respec- 
table standing who had taken offence at his writings, and completely 
wrecked," * the Advocate was conducted with great spirit — though 
upon the whole considered rather caustic — till 1834. On the 4th of 
July, 1836, Mr. Mackenzie started the Constitution, which, on the 
4th of December, 1837, was swept away with the debris of the 
rebellion. 

The Echo, denominational, was commenced in 1855, and is pub- 
lished weekly under a Committee of Management. 

The Atlas, published by Messrs. Samuel Thompson & Co., late 
proprietors of the Colonist, was commenced on the 9th of July under 
the editorial management of Mr. Hamilton Hunter. 



McMullen's Canada. 



138 TOEONTO. 

The Examiner, published in 1837 by Francis Hincks (now Gover- 
nor of Barbadoes) and subsequently by Mr. James Lesslie, exercised 
a considerable influence on the politics of the province ; but it, as 
well as the Patriot and the North American, all extreme party 
papers, have ceased to exist. 



SECTION VII.— CHARITIES. 

In the establishment of Benevolent and Charitable Institutions, 
Toronto has kept pace with her progress in commerce and education 
and in material wealth. 

The General Hospital. — This institution was incorporated in 
1847, and is under the superintendence of five Trustees, — three of 
whom are appointed by Government, one by the City Corporation, 
and one by the Board of Trade. It is attended by a staff of surgeons 
and physicians appointed by the Trustees. Besides the relief given 
to upwards of 100 in-door patients on the average, there is a great 
number of out-door patients, who attend at stated times for medical 
aid. This institution forms a sort of medical school, where the 
medical students attending college resort daily, at a stated hour, to 
"walk the wards " with the attending physician for the week. The 
Hospital is largely endowed with lands within the limits of the city, 
upwards of 400 acres having been voted for that purpose in 1817, by 
an order in Council. It has, in addition, an annual grant of £2, 000 
from the Legislature. 

Lunatic Asylum. — This is a provincial institution, supported by 
an annual grant from the Legislature, and a tax of one penny in the 
pound on the rateable property of each Municipality. It was opened 
in 1841, in the Old Jail on Toronto Street, under the medical super- 
intendence of Dr. William Bees, who had been mainly instrumental 
in its establishment. This building was soon found too small for the 
number of applicants, and the Asylum was opened in larger premises 
on the corner of Front and Bathurst Streets. The Ordnance 
Department granted fifty acres of the Garrison Common for the site 
of more commodious buildings, and in 1845 the present Asylum was 
commenced. The Medical Superintendent and Bursar are appointed 
by the Government. The present incumbents are John Workman, 
M.D., Superintendent ; John McKirdy, Bursar. There are four 
Visiting Commissioners, also appointed by Government, who frame 
by-laws for the regulation of the institution, examine it regularly, 



CHAEITIES. 139 

and report to His Excellency the Governor General. The present 
Visiting Commissioners are William Cawthra and James Beaty, of 
Toronto, Robert Armour, of Bowmanville, and Hon. Samuel Mills, 
of Hamilton. Although at the time of the erection of the building 
it was considered that accommodation for 250 patients would be suffi- 
cient, yet from 350 to 400 are crowded into it ; consequently, pa- 
tients are only admitted when a vacancy occurs, and according to 
priority of application. In 1856 a branch institution was opened in 
the University grounds, and in 1857 it contained sixty females and 
six males. 

The House op Industry. — This is a local institution, established 
in 1837 for the relief of the indigent poor, and supported by volun- 
tary contributions, aided by an annual parliamentary grant of £500. 
It is managed by a Superintendent, under the direction of a com- 
mittee of gentlemen, annually chosen at a public meeting of the 
inhabitants called for that purpose. There is a school kept in the 
building, conducted by a respectable elderly female, one of the in- 
mates, where the young children in the institution are educated. 

The Lying-in Hospital. — This institution, established in 1848, 
is under the management of a number of ladies, who visit it regu- 
larly. It is open at all hours, and being supported by voluntary 
contributions, aided by an annual grant of £75 from Government, 
medical attendance is afforded free of charge. 

The Catholic Orphan Asylum was established in 1849, for the 
purpose of affording shelter, maintenance and protection to destitute 
orphans, half-orphans, and children whose parents, from sickness or 
otherwise, are unable to support them. It is supported by voluntary 
contributions, and principally by the collections at St. Michael's 
Cathedral. 

The Protestant Orphans' Home. — In 1851, when Jenny Lind 
visited Toronto in her musical tour through America, she gave a 
concert in St. Lawrence Hall, the proceeds of which — over £400 — 
were to be devoted to the founding of some charity commemorative 
of the event. J. G. Bowes, Esq., then Mayor of the city, having 
entertained the Swedish Nightingale at his own mansion during her 
stay in the city, was entrusted with the application of the money. 
After consultation with some friends, it was resolved to found an 
Orphans' Home and Female Aid Society, and the preliminary steps 
having been taken, a temporary Home was opened in a building on 
Bay Street, in 1852, for the reception of that class of persons for 



140 TOEOFTO. 

which the charity had been established. In 1854 a permanent Home 
was erected in Sullivan Street, on a site presented by Hon. Robert 
Baldwin and Hon. William Cayley jointly, through the intercession 
of Dr. Rees, to whose unwearied exertions in the cause of humanity 
the City is indebted for many of its Institutions, and 60 children are 
at present enjoying a home and education within its walls. The in- 
stitution is managed by a committee of ladies, chosen annually, at a 
meeting of the members of the society, that is, of those who have 
contributed £1 and upwards to the charity. The office-bearers for 
the present year are — 

First Directress Mrs. Murray. 

Second Directress Mrs. M. R. Vankoughnet. 

Treasurer Mrs. Robarts. 

Secretary Mrs. Small. 

Chaplain Rev. Dr. Lett. 

Medical Officer Dr. Ogden. 

Matron Mrs. Mary Holmes. 

The institution receives an annual grant of £200 from the Govern- 
ment, and the balance necessary to the working of the charity is 
made up by private subscription. At its commencement the Home 
was catholic in its management, being supported and conducted by 
Protestants of various denominations, indiscriminately ; but by the 
somewhat unscrupulous energy of the chaplain, the institution be- 
came an adjunct of the Church of England, a clause being inserted in 
the 7th section of the By-laws, providing that "a school shall al- 
ways form part of the establishment, and religious instruction of the 
Church of England shall be included in the daily education of the 
school." The chaplain and some of his supporters determined to 
have the new Home opened by the Bishop of the Diocese, in order 
to determine its episcopal character ; but in this he was disappointed. 
His motion was carried at a small meeting, and the Secretary, a 
young lady belonging to the Kirk of Scotland, in communicating 
the Resolution to His Lordship, stated also the fact that the feeling 
of the meeting was not at all unanimous as to the propriety of His 
Lordship opening the institution — thus making it strictly episcopal 
in its character. The result was that the Bishop refused to comply 
with the resolution. At a subsequent meeting an attempt was made 
to pass a vote of censure on the Secretary, but it was defeated. The 
Secretary, however, resigned her office. A correspondence was 
opened up with Mr. Bowes as to his ideas of the character of the 
institution, but the replies of Mr. Bowes were very vague and inde- 
finite. A committee was then deputed to wait upon the Bishop 



MUNICIPAL AEEANGEMENTS. 141 

to ask him to reconsider his decision ; but from that day to this the 
institution has not been opened in any public way, and it is left 
pretty much to the guidance of its chaplain, — who along with Mr. 
Gurnett and Mr. T. P. Robarts, form the Committee of Counsel for 
the present year. Fortunately the mellowing influence of time has 
soothed the animosity which injured feelings had excited, and the 
institution continues to minister satisfactorily to that destitute class 
for whose amelioration it was established. The financial state of its 
affairs, as presented by last report, is as follows : 

INCOME. 

Special Donations , £ 371 15 

Legacy, £100, and 2 years' interest thereon, £12 112 

Ordinary Subscriptions and Donations 2198 IT 9 

Extraordinary do 408 5 9 

Parliamentary Grants 1125 

Gain on Investments 70 17 6 

Interest 134 9 

Loan 21 

Total amount of Income for 7 years £4441 17 6 

EXPENDITURE. 

House Expenses. .£1764: 1 1 

Cost of Furniture 140 6 9 

Incidental Expenses 192 19 9 

Extraordinary Expenses 67 

Cost of Erecting " The Orphans' Home,". . . £1888 5 7 
Additions and improvements since 204 5 7 

2092 11 2 

Total amount of Expenditure for 7 years £4256 18 9 

SURPLUS FUNDS. 
Investment in Consumers' Gas Stock Company of Toronto. £150 15 
Cash in hands of Treasurer on 1st June, 1858 34 3 9 

£184 18 9 



SECTION Till.— MUNICIPAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

Toronto was incorporated in 1834. The City was then divided 
into five Wards, each returning two Aldermen and two Councilmen 
to the Council Board. Since then other two Wards have been 
formed, and the City Council has thereby been increased to 28 — 14 
Aldermen and 14 Councilmen. The Aldermen, in addition to their 
functions at the Council Board, act as City Magistrates in police and 



142 TOEONTO. 

other matters. The elections to civic honours take place annually, 
on the first Monday and Tuesday of January, and during these two 
days considerable excitement prevails in some of the Wards. From 
the list of Aldermen elected, the Mayor is chosen by the whole 
Council, the City Clerk, by virtue of his official character, presiding 
over the meeting, the friends of the Mayor apparent contenting 
themselves on such occasions with simply nominating their favorite 
candidate, without condescending to panegyric, the result being 
pretty definitely determined previously. The system of re-election 
for a first and second time to the Mayoralty has prevailed very 
generally, and where there is no manifest disqualification it is not 
only gratifying, as expressive of satisfaction with the previous ad- 
ministration, but prudent in so far as the management of civic affairs 
is concerned. There are many improvements projected in one year 
which require a couple of years or so to complete, and the Mayor 
being a member, ex officio, of all Committees, is by his experience 
enabled to render great service to the new Council, for even although 
many old members may be returned there is very generally an entire 
change of Committees. In cases of new election, however, the 
honour of Mayoralty is seldom if ever conferred upon one elected for 
the first time to the Council, a little civic service being considered 
indispensable. Since the incorporation of the City we have had the 
following Mayors : — 

1834— Wm. Lyon Mackenzie. 1848 \ 

1835— R B. Sullivan. 1849 [ George Gurnett. 

1836— Dr. Morrison. 1850 ) 

1837— George Gurnett. 1851 \ 

1838 \ 1852 [ John G. Bowes. 

1839 [ John Powell. 1853 ) 

1840 ) 1854— Joshua G. Beard. 
1841 — George Munro. 1855 — George W. Allan., 

1842 \ 1856— John B. Robinson. 

1843 > Henry Sherwood. 1857 — John Hutchison. 

1844 ) 1858— Wm. H. Boulton. 
1845) 

1846 [ William H. Boulton. 

1847) 

The Council meets every Monday evening at half-past seven 
o'clock throughout the year. The doors are open to the public, and 
every attention is paid to strangers to provide them with a comfort- 
able seat within the bar where the discussions that take place may be 
fully heard. 



MUNICIPAL AEEANGEMENTS. 148 

'While the perfection of the Municipal system of Government is 
one of the most striking and important features of our-constitution, 
it is very evident that its paramount claims have not hitherto been 
sufficiently recognized, for nothing strikes the stranger more than the 
total inaptitude of many of the members of the Council for the 
transaction of the business brought before them. Annually a num- 
ber of men are sent to the Couneil Board by the voice of the people, 
who have not even studied the rudiments of the municipal system, 
and who meet week after week without ever condescending to make 
themselves familiar with the rules and regulations which govern their 
own meetings. Fortunately, Mr. Charles Daly, the Clerk who was 
installed at the incorporation of the City in 1834, still retains the 
important position which for so many years he has so ably filled, and 
to him the Council looks for guidance in aJl their movements. The 
monetary affairs of the Corporation are conducted by the City Cham- 
berlain and his assistants. The account for the salaries of Munici- 
pal officers for 1857, was £15,432 12s. 4d. 

Liabilities op the City. — The estimated liabilities for the pre- 
sent year, as presented by the Finance Committee in their Report 
]No. 15, amount to $614,550.68* to be provided for as follows : — 
Amount due on the 31st Dec, 1857, on account of the 

revenue of that year $166,785.22 

Amount of Rental, Licenses, Market Fees, &c, for 1858. . . . 62,712.00 
Amount of over expenditure for 1857, proposed to be pro- 
vided for by an issue of Debentures '94,663 . 80 

$324,134.02 
Leaving a balance of $290,416.66 to be provided for by assessment 
in the following manner : 

For Sehool purposes 3-§-d. in the £ or 1£ cents in the $, on 

£515,000 or $2,060,000 $3,041.67 

For Sinking Fund and interest on Debentures Is. Id. in the 

£or 52 cents in the$ 111,583.33 

General purposes, including dog tax, Is. 6^d. in the £ or 7§ 

centsinthef 160,791.67 

$302,416.67 
Less— Probable losses 12,000.00 

$290,416.67 

The amount of " over expenditure " for 1857, $94,663.80, was 

caused by a somewhat undue stretch of civic official responsibility. 

* The City Accounts are now, from June 1858, kept in dollars and cents. 



144 TOEOKTO. 

The construction of the Esplanade, even after all the discussion which 
it evoked, seems to have been undertaken — as too many of the City 
Council jobs are — without sufficient forethotight, only a very partial 
provision having been made for the outlet of the City sewerage, and 
no provision at all for the gradual subsidence of the water necessarily 
enclosed in the formation of the breastwork. Only four sewers were 
mentioned in the specifications — one in Brock street, one in Simcoe 
street, one in Nelson street, and one in any other street between 
Brock and Nelson streets. Four sewers only were therefore pro- 
vided with outlets, and the consequence was that ere the other 
sewers which formerly found a ready outlet in the Bay could be 
otherwise provided for — which was ultimately done at considerable 
expense to the city — they were dammed up, and the sewerage 
mingled with the enclosed water, now left stagnant, produced a very 
noisome effluvia. 

The Medical Faculty — the legitimate guardians of the City's 
salubrity — after a lengthened consultation, prognosticated sudden 
pestilence if the nuisance were not at once abated. The Council 
met, and in their emergency empowered the Mayor, without delay, 
to make arrangements " for filling up the large space in front of the 
City, situated between the south side of Palace and Front Streets 
and the north line of the Esplanade." A contract was accordingly 
entered into, which many of the citizens and several of the City 
papers declared to be a job, inasmuch as it was given to parties who 
had not the means of completing it. A By-law was passed, autho- 
rizing the issue of £75,000 of Debentures, to pay, amongst other 
things, for the Mayor's contract ; and some of the Debentures were 
disposed of in the English market, when the By-law was quashed by 
our Law Courts as being informal, as it had not been submitted to 
the vote of the citizens, and the issue of the Debentures was declared 
illegal, and they were consequently recalled. A By-law for the 
issue of £50,000 of Debentures was accordingly passed by the 
Councils and submitted to the popular vote. It was, however, 
vetoed by a large majority, the citizens plainly declaring that they 
had little confidence in the men who would have the expenditure of 
the money. The Council quietly pocketed the affront, passed a By- 
law for £25,000, which was also vetoed, and then without the slight- 
est compunction drew $32,000 from the Jail Fund to complete the 
sewerage and $66,000 from the Esplanade Fund to pay for filling up 
the open space referred to, leaving their successors to make up the 
deficiency. In doing so, the present Finance Committee say — " In 
the cases referred to it would appear to have been a difficult matter 



MUNICIPAL ABE ANGEMENTS. 145 

to have adopted any different course in the very anomalous position 
in which the Corporation was placed." This over expenditure is 
therefore provided for by the issue of Debentures as proposed by the 
Finance Committee. 

The Council having appropriated the City's share of the proceeds 
of the sale of the Clergy Reserves to the construction of a new Jail, 
and the formation of an Industrial Farm for the better classification 
and training of juvenile delinquents, a piece of ground in the north- 
east environs of the City immediately beyond the River Don, known 
as the Scadding Farm, was purchased, and preparations have been 
made for the construction of the building. The Jail and Industrial 
Farm account for the year is as follows : — 

Paid for the Scadding Farm $40,000.00 

" to W. Thomas & Son 200.00 

Amount at Credit of Account 36,038.77 

$76,238.77 

Of this balance, $32,000 has been taken for 

the construction of Main Sewers. 
Amount at Credit of Account $76,238.77 

The Esplanade account, which was formed by the issue of £120,000 
of Debentures, stands as follows for the present year : — 

Paid C. Gamble, Law Expenses $ 917. 00 

" T. C. Keefer for Report on Esplanade. 211,26 

" Grand Trunk Railway for Construction 

of Esplanade 244,938.20 

Amount at Credit of this Account Ill, 066. 37 

$357,124.83 

Amount at Credit 1st Jan. , 1857 , . . . $312, 084. 80 

Received interest on deposits in Banks 4820. 33 

" Proceeds of Sale of Storehouse on 

Turning's Wharf 219.70 

" From Grand Trunk Railway Com- 
pany for right of way 40,000.00 

$357,124.83 

Public Works and Improvements for 1858. — The City Sur- 
veyor, in his Report of the necessary Improvements for 1858, 
recommends the construction of certain Works and Repairs during 
the year, involving the expenditure of $224, 262. 92, as follows — 

Sewers . $63,960 00 

Macadamizing 60,130 00 

Boulder Paving 6,904 70 



146 TORONTO. 

Turnpiking and Grading $11,857 00 

Sidewalks , 19,01 1 22 

General Street Account 62,400 00 

Total $ 224,2 62 92 

The Board of Works, however, while admitting the force of the 
Surveyor's reasoning, make sundry modifications on his Report and 
recommend its adoption by the Council in their Report of the 12th 
of April, thus modified, chargeable on Capital Account — 

Macadamizing Streets $24,440 

Turnpiking and Grading 9,952 

New Sidewalks 5,889 

Various Sidewalks in short lengths 8,000 

Experimental Paving , 4,000 

Experimental Sidewalk 1,000 

Stone Crossings 1,000 

Culverts (new) 500 

Total $49,881 

The following to be charged as current repairs — 

Macadamizing Streets $42,000.00 

Scraping and Cleaning do , 10,000.00 

Renewal of Sidewalks 6,817.07 

Repairs to do 5,000.00 

Wooden Street Crossings 1,000.00 

Repairs of Culverts 800.00 

Sundry Repairs 2,000.00 

Total $69,617.07 

The Police Force. — In the summer of 1855 the Council made 
some attempts to improve the police department, as the Force was 
considered totally inadequate to the wants of the City. After a long 
and patient investigation into some delinquencies that had- occurred, 
they determined to establish the police system on a surer basis. 

Their first step was a very judicious one. Wisely considering that 
Police management, like every other management, required not only 
an aptitude for the task but a thorough knowledge of the details of 
the system, they passed a resolution empowering the Mayor to write 
to the head of the Police establishment, London, and request him to 
send out a man thoroughly acquainted with Police matters, to 
organize and drill and superintend our City force. But the local 
pressure was so great that even the Mayor of 1855 shrank from the 
position which had been so boldly assumed, and the chief of the day 
was allowed to retain a position which the Council had declared 



MUNICIPAL AERANGEMENTS. 147 

he was unable to fill with advantage to the citizens. The Police 
Force at present consists of a Chief of Police, a Deputy Chief, five 
Sergeants, and fifty men. They are all in uniform, and have their 
respective number on their coat collar and on their cap. The Ser- 
geants wear a silver band on their uniform cap, but have no number. 
There are five Stations : City Hall Station ; Head Quarters ; No. 2, 
corner of Duke and Berkeley streets ; No. 3, Yonge street ; No. 4, 
York street ; and No. 5, St. Andrew's Market. There are fifteen 
men on duty during the day throughout the city ; two men at the 
City Hall on Station duty, and one at each of the other Stations ; 
one in the Chief's Office ; and two on special duty — making 24 out 
of the 50, leaving 26 for night patrol, some of whom, owing to the 
extent of the City, have rather a wide beat. Several of the men 
have been connected with the Force for a number of years, and are 
therefore considered efficient officers. The appointments to the 
Force are, by recent arrangements, made by a Board of Commis- 
sioners elected by the Council. The present Board is composed of 
the Mayor, the Chairman of the Committee on applications to office, 
and the Chairman of the Committee on Police, Prisons, &c. , for the 
time being. The expense of the Police Department for 1857 was 
£10,328 12s. 10d. 

The Licensing System. — This forms a separate feature in our 
Municipal arrangements. So greatly had the business of licensing 
increased, that the City Council in 1854 considered themselves justi- 
fied in appointing a General Inspector of Licenses to superintend 
this department, to grant all licenses, receive the money therefor, 
and prosecute all parties belonging to licensed avocations who have 
not complied with the rules of his office. As a matter of course, 
everything is licensed. We have Shop licenses, Auctioneer licenses, 
Eating-house licenses, Ten-pin Alley licenses, Pedlar's licenses, 
Menagerie licenses, Billiard licenses, &c. , &c. , and a certain revenue 
is derived to the city thereby. 

The amount received for Licenses in 1854 was £3,298 15 

Do do 1855 was. 4,079 9 6 

Do do 1856 was 4,439 11 3 

Do do 1857 was 5,399 15 

To this requires to be added £571 2s. 6d. for 1857 for fines and 
fees accruing from violations of the License Law, chiefly for selling 
spirits without license. The number of licenses granted for 1857, 
with their pecuniary results, was as follows : — 



148 TORONTO. 

116 Shop Licenses,* amounting to £1,155 

260 Hotel, Inn, and Tavern Licenses, at £12 3. 9d 3,168 15 

16 Auctioneer Licenses, at £10 160 

153 Cab Licenses 293 

4 Eating-houses 15 

3 Ten-pin Alleys 15 

13 Pedlars' Licenses 65 

6 Menagerie do 101 2 6 

6 Livery do 60 

1 Temperance House 3 15 

96 Butchers' Licenses 24 

299 Carters' do - 309 

3 Billiard Table Licenses 30 

Total * . £5,399 15 

The Fire Brigade. — In consequence of a somewhat general dis- 
affection having been manifested by the several volunteer companies 
of firemen which formed the Fire Brigade of the City, an Act was 
passed by the City Council on the 24th September 1855, to repeal 
the law under which they were organized and to make provision for 
the organization and management of the Fire Brigade hereafter. 
By virtue of this Act the new Brigade was placed under the control 
and direction of the Committee on Fire, Water, and Gas, for the 
time being. The Brigade consists of one Chief Engineer, two 
Assistant Engineers, chosen annually by the City Council, and form- 
ing the Board of Engineers, of which the Chief Engineer is Chair- 
man. Two Engine Companies of 35 men each ; two of thirty men 
each ; two of 25 men each ; one Hook and. Ladder Company of 25 
men ; and one Hose Company of 40 men. The Board of Engineers 
are held responsible for the discipline and good order of the whole 
Brigade, and for the care of all the apparatus belonging to the 
department. Each company has one Captain, one Lieutenant, and 
one Secretary, nominated annually by the Board. The remuneration 
for the services of the Brigade is fixed in the Act of organization. 

Chief Engineer, per annum £200 

First Assistant Engineer, per annum 50 

Second do do 40 

Captains of Companies do 20 

Lieutenants do do 15 

Secretaries do do 12 

Branchmen do do 12 

Men do do 10 

* Licenses granted to Grocers to sell spirits by the quart. 



MUNICIPAL ABRAffGEMENTS. 149 

In order that they may be distinguished at fires from the other 
citizens, they are required to wear a uniform dress and cap. The 
apparatus belonging to the department are : — 

3 Engines, direct action, 6£ inch cylinders, 16 inch stroke. 

1 Engine, " 7 " " 16 " 

1 " direct side action, 7i inch cylinders, 7 inch stroke. 

1 " old style " 7 " « 10 

6 Engines, together with suction hose, bells, lamps, leather buckets, span- 
ners, &c., &c. 

1 Hook and Ladder Carriage, with ladders, poll hooks, hand hooks, chain 
hooks, axes, <fec, &c. 

1 old Hook and Ladder Carriage. 

1 four-wheeled Hose Carriage. 

9 two-wheeled Hose Reels. 

1000 feet of good Hose. 

1200 " ordinary Hose. 

1650 " indifferent Hose. 

12 Hydrant Keys. 

Stations of the Brigade. 

No. 1. — Phoenix Company 35 men — is stationed on Court Street 

Wo. 2 — Rescue Company 30 " ** " " 

No. 3.— British North America Co. .30 " " " Bay Street. 

No. 4. — "Victoria Company 25 " New Fire Hall, Queen St. 

No. 5. — Deluge Company 25 " " Berkeley Street. 

No. 6.— Provincial Company 35 " " " Bay Street. 

Hose Company 40 " " * « 

Hook and Ladder Company 25 " * Court Street. 

During the year 1857 there were 33 fires, which destroyed 8 frame 
dwellings, 5 grocery stores, 2 taverns, 7 carpenter's shops, 4 stables, 
1 shed, and 1 barn ; in all 28 frame buildings. There were no brick 
buildings destroyed during the year ; six were, however, slightly 



Loss by Fires. 

The estimated loss by fire during the year 1857 £12,585 

The amount of insurance on property destroyed or injured 45,775 

Loss to parties over the amount of their insurance 8,267 

Insurance on property destroyed or injured, over the 

amonnt of loss 41,385 

The origin of the fires which occurred during the year, is thus so 
far accounted for : 



150 TOEONTO. 

Accidental from carelessness with stoves and stove pipes 8 

" " Lighted candles 2 

" " Gas light left near wood work 1 

" " "Warm ashes left in wood 1 

" ' ' Lighted pipe or cigar 1 

" " Chimney on fire, set fire to roof 3 

" " Children playing with lucifer matches 1 

17 

Incendiary 4 

Cause unknown 12 



The expenses of the Fire Department for 1857 were £3,546 12s. 9d., 
which includes £140 to carters for water at fires. 

Water Supply. — Toronto is miserably ill supplied with water, 
both as to quality and quantity, although in the great Lake which 
forms our southern bulwark we have an abundant and unfailing 
source of supply of pure and wholesome water. As regards the 
quality of the water supplied, — it is enough to say that it is drawn 
from the Bay — which in turn receives the entire sewerage of a city 
of 50,000 inhabitants, — and has been hitherto served out without 
the slighest filtration. As to quantity, while we have nearly 100 
miles of streets opened, there are not more in all than from 15 to 20 
miles of pipes laid, and a great portion of that even is comparatively 
useless for the purpose intended. The Reservoir, too, which affords 
the chief service, is upon so low a level that the water will not rise 
in the city to the upper floors of the high houses, and is therefore 
unavailable unless carried up by hand. The cistern of the New 
Masonic Hall on Toronto Street, for example, having been placed 
immediately under the roof, requires to be supplied with a force 
pump that all the offices may have a service. The citizens, however, 
are not entirely limited to this scanty supply. There is an abund- 
ance of the finest drinking water, held up by the blue clay, and 
obtained throughout the city at various depths from 12 to 30 feet. 
The private wells are therefore numerous, and those families that 
live beyond the very restricted range of the water pipes, depend for 
their washing water on the copious showers which from time to 
time yield a bountiful supply. Chain pumps and large wooden 
cisterns are consequently in great requisition. 

On the 18th of September, 1841, an Act was passed by the Pro- 
vincial Legislature incorporating Joseph Masson, Albert Furniss and 
John Strang, under the style and title of "The Toronto Gas Light 



MUNICIPAL AEEANGEMENTS. 151 

and Water Company." " The better to enable such institution to 
conduct and extend the business of manufacturing gas, and lighting 
the City of Toronto with gas, and of supplying the same with water," 
the Company was authorized to raise such a sum " as shall not ex- 
ceed £40,000, for the purpose of completing and maintaining said 
Gas and Water Works, and for no other purpose whatever. " 

The Gas Works had been commenced before this Act was passed, 
but the water supply does not seem to have been forthcoming for 
some time after, for we find articles of agreement drawn up on the 
15th November, 1842, between the City of Toronto on the one part, 
and Albert Furniss and Joseph Masson on the other, in reference to 
the construction of the Water Works. It is therein stated : — That 
whereas it is the intention of the said Albert Furniss and Joseph 
Masson to erect and build Water Works in the said City of Toronto, 
for the purpose of supplying the inhabitants with pure and whole- 
some water, and for the public use of the said city ; — the City of 
Toronto have agreed with the said Albert Furniss and Joseph Masson 
for a supply of water for twenty fire plugs, to be placed at such 
points and places within the said City of Toronto as have been 
selected and pointed out by the Standing Committee on Gas and 
Water Works, and for which the City of Toronto shall and will pay 
to the said Albert Furniss and Joseph Masson the sum of £250 per 
annum for 21 years, the payment to commence when five miles of 
mains shall have been laid, or as much thereof as shall be necessary 
to supply the said fire plugs. l ' And in case the said twenty fire 
plugs be not found sufficient for the supply of water at fires within 
the distance so laid down on the map, — the said Albert Furniss and 
Joseph Masson shall and will supply as many additional fire plugs 
within that distance as equal the number supplied in New York or 
Philadelphia Water Works in the same distance or length of pipes." 
After some arrangements about the trenching and filling up of the 
streets, and laying the pipes, <foc. , there comes the following clause : — 
"They, the said Albert Furniss and Joseph Masson, shall and will 
during the 21 years give a full and sufficient supply of water for the 
purpose of extinguishing fires at any time, and at all points where 
mains or pipes may be laid from the said Water Works over and 
above the number of fire plugs hereinbefore mentioned as the said 
Committee shall require, the said City of Toronto being at the ex- 
pense of the said fire plugs and erecting the same ; but that the said 
fire plugs first mentioned shall be during 21 years kept in good 
working order by Furniss and Masson." 

Under this agreement the Water Works were commenced, and 



152 TOBONTO. 

the twenty fire plugs were erected, for which the Company received 
£250 a year. In process of time, however, the mains were extended 
beyond the limits marked on the map, and the City Council very 
properly took advantage of the privilege in the agreement to erect a 
number of fire plugs or hydrants upon the mains so laid down ; but 
with an obliquity seldom indeed exhibited by public bodies, although 
they have erected fifty hydrants over and above the twenty originally 
stipulated for, they continue to pay only the original annual sum of 
£250 for the water supplied therefrom. It is neither creditable to 
the judgment nor the honesty of the City Council to take advantage 
of any inexplicit or loose wording in an agreement drawn up, I have 
no doubt, in good faith, for the mutual interest of all parties con- 
cerned, — for whatever tortuous construction may be put upon it, 
there is abundant evidence on the face of it that the Company were 
for 21 years to maintain in efficient working order only twenty fire 
plugs, and supply the same with water for the sum of £250 per annum, 
and whatever number over and above that might be considered 
necessary by the Committee on Gas and Water outside the five mile 
limit, were to be erected and maintained at the proper expense of 
the City Council. While the Company bound themselves to supply 
an indefinite number of fire plugs with water, they only covenant to 
supply twenty for £250 a year. 

I have been thus particular with the Agreement of 1841, because 
from this niggardly policy of the Council, more than from any other 
cause, has resulted the fact that the Water Company has only from 
800 to 900 water takers in a city with 7,500 houses, and even that 
small number very inadequately supplied. The city extended rapidly, 
but Mr. Furniss, who shortly after the establishment of the Works, 
became sole proprietor, had no countenance nor encourgement from 
the City Council to extend his works to meet the necessary wants of 
the city. He extended therefore very slowly, and contented himself 
with endeavoring to draw the interest of his invested capital out of 
the pipes already laid. The City Council, instead of meeting him 
with that free and generous spirit which is generally exhibited by 
public bodies, took every opportunity of harassing him, and when 
there was a deficiency of water, as it was impossible there could 
otherwise be, an action for damages was raised. In this way they 
expended the money of the city, which would have gone far to help 
the proprietor of the Water Works to extend his means of supply. 
For several years cases of this kind were pending in our Law Courts 
between the City Council and Mr, Furniss, the citizens being the 
only losers. 



MUNICIPAL ABBANGEMENTS. 153 

In 1851 Mr. Furniss, worried and disheartened with the treatment 
he had received at the hands of the City Council, and having all his 
interests and associations in Montreal, sold the works for £22,020 
12s. 6d., to a joint stock Gompany, at the head of which was Mr. 
Charles Berczy. One condition of the sale was that £9, 500 should 
be expended in extending the works. This company, however, after 
expending over £800 in addition to the £9,500 for works then under 
contract, being disappointed in their appeal to the City Council for 
a new and more equitable arrangement in regard to the supply of the 
fire hydrants, — although such arrangement was drafted and reported 
by the then committee of Fire, Water, and Gas, — was glad to get quit 
of the works again, and in 1853 Mr. Furniss came to the rescue. He 
repurchased the works for £32, 308 5s. , returning the debentures 
which had been given him. Having got the works into his own 
hands again, he proceeded to make further improvements. He pur- 
chased a new pumping engine, constructed a new 12-inch rising main 
to the St. George's Square reservoir, built a large Bath and Washing 
establishment, and had projected several extensions to the supply 
pipes, expending in all something like £15,000. On the 10th of 
June, 1858, however, he disposed of his whole interest in the works 
to the Metropolitan Gas and Water Company. 

In 1853 an Act was passed incorporating Frederic Chase Capreol 
and several other gentlemen, under the title of the Metropolitan 
Gas and Water Company, to supply the city with pure water and 
cheap gas. The provisions of the Act were not, however, taken 
advantage of. In 1855 Mr. Capreol, having in the meantime pur- 
chased out the other corporators, got the Act of 1853 amended, by 
increasing the capital stock of the company to £250,000, and making 
such other alterations as he considered necessary to its effective 
working ; and on the 31st May, 1856, the Metropolitan Company 
was organized, the Hon. Hamilton H. Killaly, James Beaty, 
and Frederic Chase Capreol, were elected Provisional Directors, 
and Mr. Capreol was elected President. In the winter of 1856-7, 
Mr. Capreol, having gone to England, made a contract with the firm 
of Dales, Brothers, for the construction of the works of the Metro- 
politan Company, the nature of which was, that the contractors 
should lay down pipes in every street in the city, equipped with all 
necessary fire-plugs or hydrants of the most approved description, 
and construct two reservoirs with a storage capacity of 10,000,000 
of gallons each, allowing an average daily supply of forty gallons per 
head ; the whole to be completed, in the most perfect order, for the 
sum of £450,000. The site selected by the Engineer of the Company 

L 



154 TORONTO. 

for the reservoir is five and a half miles east of the city, on the high 
ground adjoining the town line of Scarborough, lying between the 
Kingston Road and the Grand Trunk Railway. It is 245 feet above 
the level of the lake, whence the water shall be drawn by powerful 
engines, through a main of thirty inches diameter, and will give gravi- 
tating power sufficient to supply the highest houses in Yorkville, the 
site of which, at the northern city limits, is 135 feet above the level 
of the lake. The advantage of reservoirs at such an elevation is 
incalculable in cases of fire, because the necessary delay in all cases 
from the moment of the fire alarm to the time a fire engine com- 
mences to play is so great that the fires are not then easily checked. 
This delay is estimated at twenty-eight minutes by Mr. Braidwood, 
of the London Fire Department, where all their apparatus is kept in 
excellent order ; while the time elapsing between the fire alarm and 
the application of a hose to a high-pressure water supply, such as 
that which Montreal now enjoys, is the work of two minutes, and 
the property is consequently saved. 

In order to enable them to carry on their operations, the Company 
applied to the Legislature for an amendment to their charter, 
authorizing the City Council to levy a small frontage tax in their 
behalf, on the line of all the streets in which pipes should be laid ; in 
consequence of many of the streets being only partially built upon, 
and therefore not furnishing water consumers sufficient to pay the 
interest of the money necessarily sunk in laying down pipes in these 
streets. This was considered by the Company the most equitable 
mode of raising a portion of the necessary revenue, while it is very 
evident that, without such an inducement, any Company might 
hesitate before investing so much capital without the slightest pros- 
pect of a suitable return therefor. Some members of the City 
Council, however, for reasons best known to themselves, opposed 
the Company's Bill, and succeeded, by a blatant shew of virtuous 
care for the interests of the City, in getting a Bill introduced into 
the Legislature, asking power to construct Works for the City under 
their own control. On the 10th of April, 1857, the Secretary of the 
Company published an address to the Rate-payers of the City, 
explaining the pecuniary phase of the question in so far as it would 
affect the Rate-payers, if the Council were so unwise as to proceed 
with the construction of new Works, adding so materially as it 
would to the debt of the City. He then stated briefly the nature 
and extent of the contract for the construction of the Company's 
Works, and the supply which might be calculated upon — "thus 
placing the residents on the thinly-settled streets on the same footing 



MXiaCIPAXj ARRANGEMENTS. 155 

sas regards water supply, with the residents on King street or any 
•other densely peopled part of the City, as the supply is calculated 
for a population of one hundred thousand. For this, the Council is 
asked by the Company to levy a small frontage rate, — say for the 
sake of illustration 6d. a foot, — upon all the property fronting the 
streets through which the water-pipes are laid. By this equitable 
mode of assessment, the mechanic with his house of 18 feet front 
would pay an annual water rate of 9s. , and for this his house would 
be protected against fire, and the street on which he resides would 
be watered as often as the residents thereon thought proper to do 
so, without further additional expense for water. The house with 
its 50 feet frontage would pay a frontage rate of £1 5s., — and if a 
water supply was desired for baths and other domestic conveniences, 
— an additional rate of, say £2 10s. would be levied, making in all 
£3 15s. for the same amount of convenience which would cost £20 
if the Council proceed in the way which has been chalked out ; — 
while the City will remain unburdened with debt, our debentures 
would remain at par, and the Municipality would be able to move 
more easily into any City improvement, than they would be if they 
entered upon the ruinous course of at present constructing new 
Water Works under the control of the Corporation. " 

The City's Bill was, however, passed by the Legislature, and, as 
was conjectured at the time by those who were behind the scenes, it 
was allowed to remain a dead letter. The Board of Trade also 
stepped out of its legitimate path to petition the Legislature against 
the Company's Bill, and in their Annual Report alluded somewhat 
complacently to the fact, ' I feeling assured that such a bill would 
immensely increase our taxes without any commensurate benefit to 
the City." To this self -laudatory paragraph the Secretary of the 
Company replied in the following issue of the Daily Colonist which 
contained the Report. After stating why he had lifted the pen, he 



"Of course it would be very difficult for me to say what would be, 
in the estimation of the Council of the Board of Trade, a commen- 
surate benefit for any amount expended. But if the benefit of an 
abundant supply of pure water for domestic purposes, and for a 
protection against fire, be not commensurate with the frontage rate, 
the Metropolitan Water Company asked the Legislature to give the 
City Council the power of imposing in their behalf, — then it is im- 
possible to conceive any benefit that would be commensurate. 

"During the time the bill was under discussion I showed, and I 
believe satisfactorily, in a letter addressed to the Rate-payers, that 



156 TOBONTO. 

a frontage rate such as that specified in the Metropolitan Water 
Company's Bill, was the most equitable mode of helping to meet the 
demands which any Company would require to make, in order to 
supply the city sufficiently with water. For it is not as a domestic 
Convenience alone to those who are in comfortable circumstances 
that an abundant supply of water is needed in the city. There are 
sanitary considerations of far greater and more serious importance 
than any merely superficial view of the question could suggest, and 
in these considerations all are deeply interested. The tainted atmo- 
sphere remains not hovering, where it becomes impregnated with 
the poisonous exhalations. It is wafted to those happier spots 
where internal comfort reigns, and where all external is comeliness 
and propriety. It is breathed not alone by the poorer classes, or by 
those who have little or no connexion with Boards of Trade, 
Other than the boards of trade on which they sit or at which they 
stand to perform their daily labor. But there is that other con- 
sideration which especially belongs to the Council of the Board of 
Trade ; the effect which a full supply of water in a City has upon the 
rates of Insurance at which property is protected. This is a question 
upon which I need not cumber your space by giving any quotations, 
as every city which rises from a Water supply such as we now have 
in Toronto, to one such as the Metropolitan Water Company intend 
to afford, adds only to the accumulated evidence on this point. I 
willj therefore, give a home illustration of the way in which that 
class more immediately connected with the Board of Trade would be 
affected by the operations of the Metropolitan Water Company's 
Bill. Take, for example, the line of King Street from Betley and 
Kay's corner to Laidlaw and Co.'s corner, on Church street, — a 
distance of 880 feet, which may be taken as insured at an average of 
£500 per foot, making a total risk of £440,000, which, at |th per 
cent, premium, gives an annual outlay for Insurance alone of £3,850. 
The inevitable consequence of a full supply of water, with sufficient 
water-jets and fire-plugs, would be a saving of £1,980 in this amount 
of £3,850, by a reduced premium. Then there has to be set against 
this as a drawback, the amount of frontage-rate that wo old be 
entailed by the Metropolitan Water Company's Bill, which, for the 
same line, would be £22, leaving a clear saving of £1,958 — a saving 
in which all the citizens who require to go a shopping have a direct 
pecuniary interest. But this saving is simply in the item of Insu- 
rance. The property in which the Colonist Office is situated — which 
is within the line I have sketched — and which was so recently 
destroyed by fire, will enable you to form a pretty correct idea as to 



MUNICIPAL ARRANGEMENTS. 157 



whether any further sum should not be set down as a direct saving, 
if a sufficient supply of water was provided. As to the reduction of 
the rates of Insurance, that is a point beyond doubt. It has been 
so in all other cities. The rates in Liverpool fell as soon as their 
new Water supply was introduced, from 40s. per cent, to 8s. per 
cent. ; and there is nothing extravagant in calculating on a reduc- 
tion here of from 17s. 6d. to 8s. 6d. per cent. Then over and 
above this direct and immediate saving from insurance and from 
property protected from destruction, there will be a saving of several 
thousands annually to the city, by dispensing with an expensive 
Fire department. And yet the Council of the Board of Trade 
could not see that any benefit commensurate with the frontage rate 
would be obtained." 

Such was the position of the Metropolitan Company at the close 
of 1857. The Council, representing on a large scale the Dog in the 
Manger, would neither proceed with their own Bill nor assist those 
to proceed who were desirous to do so. In the early part of 1858, 
a correspondence was opened between the Company and the Com- 
mittee on Fire, Water and Gas, with a view to the preparation of 
some measure upon which both parties would find it to their interest 
to agree, in order that Water Works adequate to the wants of the 
City might be commenced without further delay. But, after a 
delay of several months, the correspondence was abruptly termi- 
nated. 

On the 10th of June the Metropolitan Company entered upon 
possession of the Toronto Water Works, having purchased out Mr. 
Furniss's interest at a valuation determined by Walter Shanly and 
Thomas C. Keefer, Civil Engineers, and since that time several 
improvements have been effected. But until new works are con- 
structed the City will not be adequately supplied, nor will that 
supply be so pure as the health of the citizens demands. The mere 
transfer of the works from one proprietary to another will neither 
alter the elevation of the reservoirs nor cleanse the Bay from the 
impurities daily drained into it by the sewers of the city, nor enlarge 
the mains so as to afford an abundant supply. In all these points 
the present works are exceedingly defective, and no amount of 
patching will very materially alter the state of matters. 

The very great importance of this subject is a sufficient apology for 
entering into it so minutely in a work of this kind, for an abundant 
supply of pure wholesome water is not only a great protection to a 
city, but it is the greatest physical comfort which the citizens can 
enjoy. And yet, this water supply seems always somehow to be taken 



158 TOBONTO. 

for granted. If a fire occurs beyond the limited range of the water 
pipes, and property is destroyed, the citizens give vent to a good deal 
of virtuous indignation, forgetting all the while that they have a res- 
ponsible duty to perform in such a matter as well as any Company 
which might undertake to furnish a water supply. There must be 
mutual co-operation to ensure mutual advantage, and it is perhaps too 
great a stretch of credulity for the residents of a sparsely settled city 
like Toronto, with upwards of 100 miles of streets opened and not 
more than thirty miles of houses, all told, to sit idly by, and imagine 
that any Company can afford to lay down seventy miles of pipes, — ■ 
which for all immediate purposes of house service, and consequently of 
revenue, must be unproductive, without some guarantee such as that 
asked by the Metropolitan Water Company, that at least a portion 
of the interest on the invested capital shall be secured. We are not 
indeed without an honourable precedent for such a course in the case 
of Sir Hugh Myddleton, who, in the early part of the 17th century, 
introduced the New River water to London, ruining himself pecu- 
niarily thereby. But such precedents are not given for our imita- 
tion, and we have no reason to expect they will be followed. 

The City Council has not, however, been indifferent to the 
philosophy of a good water supply. In 1854 they offered two pre- 
miums — one of £100 and the other of £50 — for the two best plans 
for supplying the City with water from Lake Ontario. Three plans 
were sent in, to one of which was awarded £100, to another £50, and 
to the third £25. But after all, the Council were just about where 
they were before, for the Adjudicators — gentlemen in every way 
qualified for the task — having stated which plan was entitled to the 
first rank, said, "whilst we consider the system proposed in it as 
superior to the other suggested, we should be inclined to demur to 
the source of supply to the position and altitude of the reservoir, 
which, if possible, should be more central and at a higher level, and 
to the details of distribution, which would seem to be capable of 
improvement." This was certainly not very high commendation, for 
having disapproved of the source of supply, the site of the reservoir, 
and the details of distribution, there was nothing left. 

In the end of 1856 the Council voted £1000 to Thomas C. Keefer, 
1 1 to make the necessary surveys and plans for Water Works for the 
City of Toronto, under the direction of the Standing Committee on 
Fire, Water, and Gas," without reference to the source of supply or 
the system by which it was to be obtained. Mr. Keefer, as in duty 
bound, made the surveys and plans, and presented a very ably drawn 
up Report to the Council in June, 1857, establishing very satisfac- 



MUNICIPAL ABEAtfGEMENTS, 159 

iorily to the Council, 1 should imagine, that Lake Ontario was large 
enough to supply the inhabitants of Toronto with water at the high 
average rate of 40 gallons per head daily ; and further, that there 
was sufficient space on the Scarboro' Heights for the construction of 
reservoirs. While, therefore, they are so much the wiser for this 
£1,350 worth of information, they are not one step nearer an abun- 
dant supply of water to the city. 

Gas Supply. — The City is also supplied with gas by a private com- 
pany. In 1839, the propriety of lighting certain portions of the City 
with gas was discussed, and a joint committee of citizens and mem- 
bers of the City Council was appointed to make preliminary arrange- 
ments. On the 7th of October, the Committee reported to the Cor- 
poration that they had received plans, specifications, and estimates 
of constructing the proposed Gas Works from Mr. Blachford and 
from Mr. Cull, Civil Engineers, and that they had also obtained 
valuable information from other persons ; and they recommended 
the Corporation to apply to the conductors of the Gas Works then 
recently established in Montreal for information respecting the plans 
and expenses of these works, as affording safer data in estimating the 
expenses of the proposed works than any other information likely to 
be obtained. 

In conformity with a subsequent resolution of the Council, the 
Committee despatched Mr. Cull to Montreal to acquire the informa- 
tion desired. In the diary of his journey to Montreal Mr. Cull 
states that he reached Montreal " on Thursday morning the 17th 
October, delivered his letters of introduction to Mr. Furniss, who is 
a respectable Hardware Merchant and a Director, as well as a pro- 
prietor of stock in the Gas Works in that City." Mr. Furniss 
accordingly accompanied Mr. Cull to the works and exhibited the 
whole apparatus, a full and particular account of which is given in 
Mr. Cull's diary. Mr. Furniss stated to him that the Montreal Gas 
Company had expended nearly £15,000 on their works. They had, 
however, only paid six per cent. , but that he anticipated a larger 
return. He had purchased nearly half the stock, and if he could be 
satisfied that at Toronto good gas-light coal could be obtained at the 
price stated (Is. 3d. per bushel) and that 400 lights would be taken 
in the distance described — from Caroline to York streets — at £4 per 
light for an argand burner, he would readily purchase stock to a 
considerable amount in the Toronto Gas Works.* Various esti- 
mates are submitted in the Committee's Report. One by Mr. 

* Cull's Diary. Rogers and Thompson, 1839. 



160 TOBOffTO. 

Blachford, to supply " gas lights through King street from Caroline 
to York streets for from four to five hundred argand burners, and of 
purchasing the apparatus and erecting the necessary buildings," 
£4,090 ; one by Mr. Cull, at £5,570 ; one by Mr. Furniss, given 
without any details, £7,500 ; and one by Mr. McLaren, a " Gas 
Light Engineer" from Scotland, then resident in New York, at 
£6,021. 

The Committee having fully considered the mode of providing 
ways and means for the construction of the works, submit "that 
they are of opinion that the public interests of the City would be best 
promoted by the Corporation taking the whole into their own hands. 
They, however, are informed by the Chairman of the Finance Com- 
mittee that the Corporation have no means of providing for the large 
outlay required for the construction of the proposed Gas Works, 
except by incurring a further City debt to the amount of said outlay, 
either by the sale of Debentures, or a further issue of Corporation 
Notes, a measure which he does not think the City Council would be 
willing to adopt, unless at least they were satisfied that they would 
be supported in that measure by the inhabitants, and particularly by 
the commercial part of the inhabitants of the City which they repre- 
sented."* 

It is refreshing in these days of reckless civic expenditure to see 
the caution with which the City Fathers of the ancient time entered 
upon any undertaking where the pecuniary interests of the City were 
involved. A public meeting of the inhabitants of the City was called 
at the instance of the Committee, and Mr. Furniss having been 
invited to be present and having fully stated his views on the sub- 
ject, the result was, that the works were undertaken by a private 
company, and erected on a piece of ground at the east end of the 
City, granted them by the Corporation as an inducement to com- 
mence the works. The City was partially lighted in the winter of 
1840, but it was only in November, 1841, that the Company was 
incorporated, as we have seen, as the Toronto Gas Light and Water 
Company, the same parties, all strangers to the City, and having 
their family interests and attachments elsewhere, assuming the 
responsibility of supplying the City with gas and water. In 1845 
the Company made an agreement with the Corporation for 21 years, 
to light the streets of the City at £6 13s. 4d. a light, the Company 
bearing all the expense of the erection and of cleaning and lighting 
the lamp3. Under this arrangement the City is at present lighted, 
and starting as the Company did with 12 street lamps they now 

* Committee's Report, 1839. 



BELIGIOTJS, NATIONAL, AND EBATEENAL SOCIETIES. 161 

supply 828 lamps, the cost of which for 1857, with the gas for the 
City Hall and other Corporation Buildings, was £5,135 12s. 6d. 
In 1847, Mr. Furniss, who, in consequence of the death of Mr. 
Masson, had become sole proprietor of the works, sold them to a 
Joint Stock Company, incorporated under the title of the Consumers' 
Gas Company, for £22,000. This Company has, upon the old site, 
recently erected new and very extensive works upon an improved 
principle. The locality and extent of the works are given in their 
appropriate place. 



SECTION IX.— RELIGIOUS, NATIONAL, and FRATERNAL 
SOCIETIES. 

Where the spirit and letter of the Sacred page are revered there 
you will find order, cleanliness, industry, and sobriety — the grand 
essential elements of a healthful social state. It is evidence then 
even of worldly wisdom, did no higher principles influence the mind, 
to organize and maintain in a community, Bible and Missionary 
Societies, and every appliance by which the masses may be brought 
into contact with the truths of Revelation ; for while nature is prone 
to err there is need for some one to light the Lamp of Life, 



•That like the electric spark, 



Its vivid rays may flash from heart to heart 
And form a sympathetic chain to span , 

The earth s circumference. 

There is a deeply mysterious poetic sentiment associated with such 
a fraternity as that of Free Masonry, which, with its mystic symbols, 
links the present with all time past, which looks to 

"Ancient times, when Israel's king that famous fabric reared, 
In which his glory and his wealth so manifest appeared, 
He in his wisdom first gave heed to Heaven's great law to man, 
And Oedee, beauteous and sublime, through all the process ran. 

No sound of axe or metal tool through all the time was heard, 
No craftsman broke the harmony with one discordant word ; 
For so the work was portioned out, by Solomon the wise, 
From corner-stone to capital no discord could arise." 

But there is scope for diversity of opinion as to the advantage 
which our community, socially considered, derives from the exis- 
tence and perpetuation of many of the Societies whose names are 
familiar as household words amongst us. Our National Societies, 
formed for a purely benevolent purpose, may be considered to have 
seen their day, and violence would not be done to the most sensi- 



162 TORONTO. 

tive feeling were they all allowed quietly to fall into desuetude. 
There was a time when even the name of such a society acted as a 
charm upon the heart of the way-worn wanderer. Many a family 
in their bright dreams of a home in the Far West left the land of 
their nativity with high hopes and light hearts, only to find them- 
selves by some untoward fate landed upon a strange shore, amidst a 
partially strange people, destitute even of the means of procuring 
the necessaries of existence. It was therefore of the utmost conse- 
quence to have a centralization of benevolent efforts that immediate 
relief might, on an emergency, be obtained. To this sacred feeling 
we owe the existence of our St. Andrew's, St. George's, and St. 
Patrick's Societies ; for while the spirit of isolation to which allusion 
has elsewhere been made, existed then as now, to a certain extent, it 
could be effectively reached by a tale of distress from home — that 
home around which their heart's fondest aspirations still clung with 
warmest attachment, — and the history of the past only tells us how 
nobly these appeals were responded to. 

I need not refer to the latest manifestation of this sympathetic 
regard in the case of the unfortunate sufferers by the ill-fated steamer 
"Montreal" — passengers, chiefly emigrants by the ship "John 
Mackenzie" from Glasgow, when the St. Andrew's Societies of Mon- 
treal and Quebec generously "offered a warm sympathy for the 
surviving dismembered families by contributing largely towards 
making good their losses of property, and by enabling such as desired 
it to return to their relations or to proceed to their original destina- 
tion. " Still, with this recent instance of substantial aid secured and 
applied by this concentrated agency, the name and the worth and 
the character of these Societies belong to the past, and in these days 
the honour of that name and that character which they so nobly 
maintained, is apt to be sullied. Their existence now serves very- 
little good purpose, and they might therefore be dispensed with, if it 
were for no other reason than that the memory of their deeds might 
be embalmed in sweetest fragrance. We are all, or ought to be, 
Canadians, and whether of English, Irish, or Scotch descent, it sig- 
nifies very little to society unless we make ourselves good citizens. 
If such is the feeling with regard to our National Societies, which 
certainly had an ostensibly benevolent object in view in their forma- 
tion, that feeling only becomes intensified with reference to those 
Societies whose origin is of a questionable character, and whose ten- 
dency is to break up the community into little coteries banded 
together, if not with a purely antagonistic feeling, at least for a 
selfish purpose. Some of these Societies seem the spurious lineage 



KELIGIOTTS, NATIONAL, AND EEATEBNAL SOCIETIES. 163 

of those early times, when every little craft had its guild and its 
circumvallation, which in more degenerate days could only be 
breached by intemperance and debauch. Others of them have even 
a more questionable parentage. Their direct effect upon society is 
injurious in a variety of ways. Iney proclaim loyalty largely with 
the lip, but it too frequently ends with a blatant profession, remind- 
ing one forcibly of the current remark of a character who used to 
parade the streets of Glasgow some 20 years ago " honest lads mind 
your pouches, its ill to ken a keelie* frae an honest man's son nou- 
a-days." While, therefore, as a citizen I regret the existence of 
such Societies amongst us, diverted as their influence is oftentimes 
to the most pernicious purposes, and would hail it as a happy rid- 
dance if they were entirely abolished, as they only sow discord and 
strife, and too frequently lead to the cultivation of vicious habits, I 
must, as a faithful chronicler of the time, record their existence, 
good and bad commingled, as far as I have the means of doing so. 
First in order and importance is, — 

The Upper Canada Bible Society. — This Society was organized 
in 1829 for the circulation of the Bible, without note or comment,, 
and for that purpose maintains in the City a general depot of Bibles 
and Testaments, from which all the Auxiliary Bible Societies in the 
Province are supplied, at the lowest prices at which the books can be 
afforded. The Society is conducted by a Board of Directors, con- 
sisting of a President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, and Secretaries, 
with twenty lay members, chosen annually at the general annual 
public meeting in May. All Ministers of the Gospel are entitled to 
meet and vote with the Directors. Every person paying five shil- 
lings a year is a member of the Society, and persons paying five 
pounds and upwards either to the Society or any of its Branches, is, 
at the discretion of the Directors, declared a Life Member, and is. 
entitled to receive annually from the Society Bibles and Testaments 
to the value of five shillings, for distribution. There are 204 auxiliaries 
and Branches in the Province, visited annually by the Travelling 
Agents, Reverend Lachlan Taylor, and S. B. Johnson. In 1830 
the income of the Society for the first year was £180 lis. ; its dis- 
tribution 152 Bibles and 390 Testaments. The income for the year 
ending May, 1858, was £4,760 4s. 3£d., being less by £687 6s. 3d. 
than the income of the previous year. The distribution for the past 
year was 9,817 Bibles, 14,727 Testaments — making, with Indian 
Translations, a total distribution of 24,741 books. The total 



A pick-pocket. 



164 TORONTO. 

amount collected by the Society since the commencement of its ope- 
rations in 1829 is £42,725 17s. 8d., an average of £1,473 6s. Id. a 
year. The total distribution has been 119,637 Bibles, 203,894 Tes- 
taments, 3,528 parts and Indian Translations, making in all 327,059 
Bibles and Testaments circulated through the Province by the 
agency of this Society. 

During the past year Jesse Ketchum, so favorably known for his 
beneficence, conveyed to the Society a free deed of the ground on 
which the Depository is built, the only condition being that the pre- 
sent ground rent, £31 10s. , be expended annually, under the care of 
a suitable person, in the purchase of bibles and religious books, to 
be distributed among the pupils attending the public day schools in 
Toronto and Yorkville. Mr. Ketchum has also conveyed to the 
Bible and Tract Societies other property in a similar manner, the 
rental of which is to be expended in purchasing bibles and religious 
books, to be distributed amongst the scholars attending the Sabbath 
schools in the City and in Yorkville. The officers of the Society for 
the present year are — 

President — Hon. Robert Baldwin, C.B. 

First Vice-President — Right Rev. Dr. Cronyn, Bishop of Huron. 

Treasurer — William McMaster. 

Corresponding Secretaries — J. S. Howard, Rev. W. Reid. 

Recording Secretary — Rev. A. Wickson, M.A. 

Travelling Agents — Rev. Lachlan Taylor, S. B. Johnson. 

Depositary — James Carless. 

Directors — John Tyner, Wm. Osborne, A. Christie, G. Buckland, 
J, F. Marling; James A. Smith, J. Poster, John Thorn, George 
Morphy, E. Childs, H. Mortimer, Thos. Lailey, J. G. Hodgins, 
G. M. Innis, James Litster, Alex. Rattray, John McDonald, 
Patrick Freeland, G. L. Beardmore, John Greenlees. 

Upper Canada Religious Tract and Book Society. — This 
Society is in the twenty-seventh year of its existence, having been 
formed in 1832, for the purpose of circulating through the province 
the publications of the London Religious Tract Society, and works 
of a similar character. This Society acts jointly with the Bible 
Society, one Depositary conducting the business of both, supplying 
the various auxiliaries throughout the province with whatever books 
they require. All subscribers to its funds are entitled to receive 
tracts for distribution to the value of half their subscription. Per- 
sons paying five shillings annually are entitled to membership, and 
subscription of £5 and upwards entitles the donor to the position of 



EELIGIOTTS, NATIONAL, AND TEATEENAL SOCIETIES. 165 

a life member. There are ninety-three branch societies in active 
operation in Upper Canada, the present travelling agent, W. W. 
Kelles, M.A., having organized twenty-four new branches during 
the past fiscal year of the Society. The issues from the depot for 
the year ending 1st May, 1858, were — 

Books sold 51,889 

Tracts 153,838 

Gratuitous distribution of Tracts and Periodicals 144,194 

155 Village and Sabbath-school Libraries, containing 14,071 

Bibles and Testaments with the metrical version of the Psalms 

and Paraphrases 5,760 

Children's Paper 24,866 

Child's Paper and Messenger, to December, 1857 31,214 

Total 419,251 

Increase during the year 106,584 

Total circulation by the Society since its commencement 2,728,806 

GRATUITOUS CIRCULATION. PAGES- 

To Sunday Schools 84,077 

For Township Distribution 681,617 

To the Knox's College Missionary Society 23,400 

" United Presbyterian do 16,320 

" Victoria College Distribution Society, on the railway cars, 

Cobourg 23,000 

" Toronto City Missions 11,532 

" Wesleyan Missionary, City Circuit, "West 22,000 

" Baptist Mission and Distribution Society 39,392 

" Congregational Institute 15,880 

During the year the London Society made a grant of tracts to the 
value of £50 sterling, and sixty-two libraries at reduced prices. The 
City is regularly parcelled out by the visitors of the different agencies 
named as receiving a gratuitous supply of tracts — Knox's College 
Missionary Society, United Presbyterian Hall Missionary Society, 
City Mission, Bond Street Tract Distribution Society, &c. — and the 
respective localities visited every Saturday, and in some instances 
every alternate Saturday. The office-bearers for the present year 
are : — 

President — Rev. James Richardson. 

First Vice-President — Right Rev. Dr. Cronyn. 

Treasurer — J. S. Howard. 

Secretaries — Rev. "W. Reid, M.A. ; William Edwards. 

Travelling Agent — W. W. Nelles, M.A. 

Depositary — James Carless. 



166 TOEONTO. 

Directors — AH Ministers of the Gospel who are Members of the 
Society ; Messrs. W. Osborne, C. Walker, J. Laidlaw, A. Christie, 
J. E. Pell, John Tyner, Captain Sharpe, E. Miller, Messrs. J. F. 
Marling, J. F. Lyon, M. S. Baldwin, John Thorn. 

The Toronto City Mission. — This Society was organized in 
1847, and has during the greater part of that time employed two 
missionaries, whose labors among the poor have been attended with 
the happiest results. It will have been observed, in the report of 
the operations of the Tract Society, that a number of tracts and 
copies of the Scriptures are supplied annually to the City Mission, 
gratuitously. These are given by the agents of the Mission whenever 
required, and by their instrumentality many have been led to think 
of the realities of an unseen and eternal state. Four or five years 
ago, by the exertions of Mr. Paul Stewart, one of the Society's 
agents, money was collected sufficient to erect a small place of meet- 
ing on Elizabeth Street, on a site presented by J. Lukin Robin- 
son. But during the past year some difference arose between the 
Society and Mr. Stewart as to the proprietary of the little chapel ; 
the Society claiming it as theirs, having been built through the exer- 
tions of their agent. Mr. Stewart took a different view of the 
matter, contending that the site was given to himself and not to the 
Society, and that the people subscribed their money for the especial 
purpose of providing him with a place of meeting for worship, and 
for his Sabbath-school. Mr. Robinson confirmed Mr. Stewart's 
statements in reference to the site ; but, as a matter of course, a 
war of words ensued, which ended in the Society dispensing with 
Mr. Stewart's services. The office-bearers for the present year are 
— W. D. Taylor, Treasurer ; J. C. Geikie and George A. Pyper, 
Secretaries. 

The City Mission. — The difference which arose between Mr. 
Stewart and the Toronto Missionary Society, led to the formation 
of a second City Mission, of which Mr. Stewart became the agent. 
The report which has just been published by this new agency gives a 
very favorable account of the Society's operations for the past year. 
There is service in the missionary church on Elizabeth Street every 
Sunday, at three o'clock p.m., and a Sabbath-school at half-past 
nine o'clock, with an average attendance of 100 scholars. The office- 
bearers are — Robert Cathcart, Treasurer ; Charles Belford, Secre- 
tary. Like its congener just referred to, this Society is supported 
by voluntary subscriptions. The income of the past year was 
$415. 67, leaving a small balance in the Treasurer's hands, after pay- 
ing Mr. Stewart's salary. 



EELIGIOTJS, NATIONAL, AND FEATEENAL SOCIETIES. 167 

Anti-Slavery Society. — On the 26th of February, 1851, a 
public meeting of the citizens of Toronto was held in the City Hall, 
presided over by the then Mayor, for the purpose of organizing this 
Society, the object of which, as stated in the second resolution, 
"shall be to aid in the extinction of slavery all over the world, by 
means exclusively lawful and peaceable, moral and religious, such as 
the diffusing of useful information, by tracts, newspapers, lectures 
and correspondence, and by manifesting sympathy with the house- 
less and homeless victims of slavery flying to our soil. " In the early 
history of the Society we had several very interesting public meet- 
ings, at which Mr. George Thompson, of anti-slavery notoriety, Mr. 
Frederick Douglas, and the Rev. Mr. May, of Syracuse, delivered 
addresses on the question of American slavery. ~No one who heard 
Mr. Thompson can forget with what pathos and fascinating eloquence 
he replied to the question he himself proposed, ' ' What have you to 
do with the question ?" ' ' The slave is your brother, and you cannot 
dissolve that union. While he remains God's child he will remain 
your brother. He is helpless, and you are free and powerful ; and 
if you neglect him, you are not doing as you would have others do 
to you, were you in bonds. Know you not that it is God's method 
to save man by man, and that man is only great and honorable and 
blest himself as he is the friend and defender of those who need his 
aid 1 You are dwellers on the same continent with three millions of 
slaves. Their sighs come to you with every breeze from the south. 
Oh ! haste to help them, that this glorious continent may be freed 
from its pollution and its curse." The association employed Rev. 
Mr. Ward as their agent, and subsequently Rev. Mr. Smith. They 
maintain correspondence with the various anti-slavery organizations 
in the States, and also in other countries, and aid the sister society 
in the prosecution of their mission. The Rev. Dr. Willis, of Knox 
College, has been President of the Society from its organization, and 
Mr. T. Henning has for a like period performed the duties of Secre- 
tary. 

Ladies' Coloured Fugitive Association. — Shortly after the 
formation of the Anti-Slavery Society, it was discovered that the 
requisite agency was incomplete. An urgent call for clothing and 
shelter was made by the unhappy beings who' were flocking to our 
Canadian soil, from the galling bondage of a people, the proudest 
motto on whose escutcheon is, " that all men are created equal, and 
are endowed by their Creator with the inalienable right of life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. " Many of these poor creatures 
reached our city in the greatest distress, and their immediate wants 



168 TOROKTG, 

had to be provided for, while employment was obtained as far as 
possible for those who were able to labor. 

This society was organized in April, 1851, with the view of raising 
funds for the purpose of aiding the coloured fugitives. Subcriptions 
were raised from benevolent persons in the city, and large donations 
have been, from time to time, received from various Ladies' Associa- 
tions in Britain, thus enabling the Committee to distribute upwards of 
£250 annually in a quiet, unostentatious way. In their Report for 
1857, the Committee say : "In the course of their visits, the Com- 
mitte have been put in possession of a great variety of important 
facts bearing upon the question of slavery, and demonstrating the 
horrors which surround the system on every side. " Upwards of 500 
cases were relieved during 1856-7. The Office Bearers are Mrs. 
Arnold, President ; Mrs. Willis, Treasurer ; Mrs. Henning, Corres- 
ponding Secretary ; Mrs. Brett, Recording Secretary. 

The Elgin Association. — This is a somewhat older institution 
than the preceding, although aiming to accomplish the same object 
by a more consolidated machinery. This association was formed on 
the 7th of June, 1850, and incorporated under an Act of the Pro- 
vincial Legislature, passed on the 10th of August of the same year, 
for the settlement and moral improvement of the coloured popula- 
tion of Canada, for the purpose of purchasing Crown or Clergy Re- 
serve lands in the Township of Raleigh, in the County of Kent, and 
settling the same with coloured families resident in Canada, of ap- 
proved moral character. A tract of land of 9000 acres in the Town- 
ship of Raleigh was purchased and divided into lots of fifty acres 
each. The entire settlement is about six miles in length and three 
miles in width, and is so divided that a road of 66 feet wide runs 
past each lot. In conformity with the regulations of the association, 
each settler is required to put up a house 18 feet by 24 feet, 12 feet 
high, with a piazza running the whole length of the front, enclosing 
the front of the house and garden with a picket fence. The house 
must be set 33 feet from the road, and he must clear from the 
centre of the road four rods at least, the whole front of his lot, 
and cut a ditch across the front of the lot four feet wide at top, 18 
inches at bottom, and at least 2 feet deep — the Secretary being in- 
structed not to give any deeds until he receives a certificate from the 
Local Committee that the aforesaid improvements have been made 
and the rules complied with. 

In this way the greatest uniformity is preserved in the appearance 
of the settlement. The number of acres cleared and under fence is 
1,400, other 300 acres are chopped down and will be ready for crops 



EELIGIOTTS, NATIONAL, AND FEATEENAL SOCIETIES. 169 

in Spring. A steam Saw and Grist Mill, and a Pot and Pearl Ash 
Factory have been established in the settlement and have been of the 
greatest advantage to the settlers. There are from 800 to 900 per- 
sons in the settlement, and it is worthy of remark that nothing that 
intoxicates is either made or sold in the district. Besides the 
classical school at Buxton, attended by about ninety pupils, there 
are two other district schools attended by the same number. A Sab- 
bath School is in successful operation, conducted by the classical 
teacher and eight assistants, and attended by ninety pupils. Some 
who have been trained in the school at Buxton, are now usefully 
employed as teachers ; a number more will soon be ready for the 
same employment ; some are studying Classics with the view of ob- 
taining a higher education, in order to prepare themselves for future 
usefulness. 

The last report shows the financial state of the Settlement from 
the commencement to the close of the fiscal year, 31st July, 1858, to 
be as follows : 

Dr. 

To Cash in Treasurer's hand £ 41 1 2 

TO SUNDRY PURCHASES OP LAND. 

For amounts purchased in 1854, 1856 £418*7 10 

Less amounts received to 1858. . £1434 8 4 
Do do in 1858.. 101 17 3 

1536 5 7 



To Expenses Account to 1857 £493 15 9 

Do do 1858 74 3 1 



2651 4 5 



567 18 10 



£3260 4 5 



Cr. 

By Stockholders for amount of Instalments paid, as per Sche- 
dule A, to 1854 £551 

By Crown Land Department for land purchased £2946 
Less amounts paid, as per Vouch- 
ers, to the 31st July, 1857 £1370 7 10 

Do do do 1858 .... 26 5 

1396 12 10 

1549 7 2 

By Profit and Loss, Real Estate Account 1159 17 3 



£3260 4 5 

M 



170 TOBOETO. 

The office bearers for the present year are — 

President Peter Brown. 

1st Vice President Rev. Dr. Willis. 

2nd Vice President Rev. Dr. Burns. 

Treasurer J. Scott Howard. 

Secretary Nathan Gatchell, 

and twenty-four Directors. 

The Rev. William King has superintended the affairs of the Settle- 
ment from the commencement and is entitled to the highest credit 
for the successful way in which he has fulfilled his mission. 

Church Society. — This society was established in 1841 and incor- 
porated in 1844, for missionary and other purposes in connexion 
with the Church of England, in the Diocese of Toronto. The society 
has four separate Funds under its charge : the Mission Fund, 
Widows' and Orphans' Fund, General purpose Fund, and Students' 
Fund. Collections are regularly made in the various churches of the 
body to these Funds and the money remitted to the office in Toronto, 
to be apportioned out and applied to the objects for which it is raised. 
The proceeds of the quarterly collections in the several churches and 
stations, during the past year, were as follows : — 

For the Mission Fund, in July, taken up at 163 sta- 
tions, amounted to £ 326 *l 1 

"Widows' and Orphans' Fund, at 190 stations 382 15 6 

General Purpose Fund, at 145 stations 222 15 

Students' Fund, at 95 stations 130 2 

£1061 17 9 

This sum shows a decrease of £142 18s. 6d. from the previous 
year, but the Diocese of Huron was organized during that period, 
and some of the collections were taken up in that Diocese. In addi- 
tion to the four general objects specified, a collection was taken up 
in the several churches on account of the Indian Relief Fund, which 
amounted to over £300. The income from investments and clergy 
subscriptions in behalf of the Widows' and Orphans' Fund, amounted 
to £524 10s. 4d., and £376 5s. has been added to the Investment 
Fund, so that the sum of £8129 Is. 5d. is now invested to this ac- 
count. Seven widows and the orphans of two clergymen have recei- 
ved assistance, during the past year, to the amount of £430. 

From the General Purpose Fund, grants were made to ten churches 
and two parsonages of £12 10s. each, and grants of tracts and books 
were made to the amount of £77 18s. 6d. The total receipts in this 



RELIGIOUS, NATIONAL, AND FRATERNAL SOCIETIES. 171 

account from all sources, during the year, was £1309 6s. Eleven 
young students have been partially assisted out of the Students' 
Fund, which was only £115 lis. lid. , compared with £193 12s. 8d. 
remitted during the previous year. £200 from this Fund has been 
paid over as usual to the Bursar of Trinity College. There have been 
£1256 4s. 5d. paid from the Mission Fund during the year for mis- 
sionary work. The office bearers of the society are the Hon. and 
Right Revd. Bishop Strachan, President ; Revd. T. S. Kennedy, 
Secretary. Office and Depository, Wellington Building, King street. 

St. Andrew's Society. — This society was organized on the 5th 
day of May, 1836, under the name and style of " St. Andrew's 
Society of Toronto, and Home District of Upper Canada." Office- 
bearers for the year 1836 :— 

President — Hon. Wm, Allan. 

First and Second Vice-Presidents — Alexander Wood and William 
Proudfoot. 

Managers — Peter Paterson, James Newbigging and Isaac 
Buchanan. 

Chaplains — Rev. Mr. Leach and Rev. Mr. Macaulay. 

Physician — Dr. Telfer. 

Standing Committee — John Ewart, Lewis Carfrae, Arch. Mac- 
donell and G. C. Strachan. 

Committee of Accounts — James F. Smith, Charles L. Murray and 
Donald Ross. 

Treasurer — Alexander Murray. 

Secretary — Samuel Spreull. 

The Society is kept up more as a relic of the past than a present 
effective agency. Many of the members never attend any of its 
meetings from one year to another, and simply pay their annual 
subscriptions as so much towards helping some poor person along. 
Office-bearers for 1857 : — 

President — John Ewart. 

First Vice-President — Alexander McDonald. 

Second Vice-President — William Henderson. 

Managers — Wm. Macfie, G. B. Wylie and James Leask. 

Physician — Dr. Ross. 

Chaplains — Rev. Drs. Jennings and Barclay. 

Standing Committee — R. S. Miller, John Cameron, William 
Thompson and Thomas Hamilton. 

Committee of Accounts — James Baine, James Fiskin and Hugh 
Macdonell. 



172 TOEOFTO. 

Treasurer — James Shaw. 
Secretary — Alexander Macpherson. 

Standard Bearers — John Poison, John McBride, William Gibson 
and James Sinclair. 
Marshal — Hugh Miller. 
Piper — Ronald Dingwall. 

St. George's Society. — This Society was organized in 1836 for 
the purpose of uniting "Englishmen and the descendants of English- 
men in a social compact for the promotion of mutual and friendly 
intercourse, and for affording to such persons of English birth or 
descent as may stand in need of them, advice and counsel, and such 
pecuniary assistance as the funds of the Society may enable it to 
give." Welshmen were also to be included until St. David should 
find a habitation and a name amongst us. Among the early office- 
bearers we find the names of William Wakefield, Henry Rowsell, 
W. B. Jarvis, G. P. Ridout, Rev. Henry Scadding, J. G. Beard, 
G. Wells, and several others, well known to the citizens of the pre- 
sent day for the interest they take in everything conducive to the 
welfare of the City. The expenditure for relief during the past year 
was £212 3s. 3 Jd. , and for current expenses £16 13s. 5Jd. 

The Society numbers over 450 members. The office bearers for 
the present year are : — 

President — J. B. Robinson, M.P.P. 

1st Vice-President — Thomas Brown. 

2nd do — Robert Dodgson. 

Treasurer — F. W. Coate. 

Secretary — Julian Sale. 

Chaplains — Rev. Dr. Beaven, Rev. Dr. Scadding. 

Physicians — Dr. Hodder, Dr. Badgley, Dr. Hallowell. 

Committee— John Shaw, George Thomas, Henry Godson, Wm. 
Robinson, Isaac Faulkner, B. Sanders, Frank J. Joseph. 

Stewards — John Dodgson, J. H. Patterson, Thomas Lamb, Jos. 
Grand, J. Sidaway, A. Braham. 

Standard Bearers — N". G. Brown, Thomas Hoskins, John Hirst. 

Marshal — George Roberts. 

St. Patrick's Society. — This society was reorganized on the 6th 
of March, 1844, under the presidency of Dr. King. It had been in 
existence for several years before, but dwindled down to a mere 
name — a point to which it is again happily fast trending. The office 
bearers for the present year are :— 



BELIGUOTTS, NATIONAL, AND PEATEENAL SOCIETIES. 173 

President A. K. Boomer. 

1st Vice-President James Hallinan. 

2nd Vice-President S. T. Green. 

2rd Vice-President O. P. Gowan. 

Treasurer James Ashfield. 

Secretary W. P. McKee. 

Committee : — Rice Lewis, James Cotton, G. Mitchell, J. G. Bo- 
wes, and J. Perkins. 

Masonic Lodges. — There are six Masonic Lodges in Toronto, 
three Chapters and one Encampment of Knights' Templar. The 
oldest organization is that of St. Andrew. St. Andrew's Lodge of 
Free and accepted Masons was organized in Toronto in 1822, under a 
warrant from the Most Worshipful the Grand Master of the Grand 
Lodge of England, the Earl of Zetland. There are at present 121 
members in the Lodge, each of whom contributes 2s. 6d. a month to 
the general fund, devoted to rent, insurance, benevolence, and the 
library. The Library was established two years ago and has since 
loeen partially destroyed. It now contains from 500 to 600 volumes — 
all precious to the craft. The present office bearers are :-rr 

W. B.— W. G. Storm Worshipful Master. 

W. B. — F. W. Cumberland Past Master. 

B. — W. P. Harris Senior Warden. 

B. — J. H. Piehey Junior Warden. 

B. — H. Powsell Treasurer. 

B.— W. F. McMaster ,... Secretary. 

B. — George H. Wyatt Senior Deaeon. 

H. — James Jackson Junior Deacon. 

B. — John Paterson Inner Guard. 

3$. — Charles Thompson Master of ceremonies. 

R.A.Hoskins .) stewards. 



J. E. Ellis 

B. — H. R. Fripp Organist 

JB. — James Forman Tyler. 

B's. — W. Hay, C. Thompson, and 

W. H. Smith Auditors. 

The Lodge is now under the Grand Lodge of Canada. 

There are other five Lodges in town, all established within these 
few years past : King Solomon's Lodge, Ionic Lodge, Rehoboam 
~Lodge, St. John's Lodge, and Wilson's Lodge. There is one curious 
circumstance connected with Free Masonry in its outer-workings, in 
so far as Toronto is concerned, One of the traditions of the Order — 



174 TOEONTO. 

for it may be no more than a tradition — is that Masons shall keep 
themselves entirely separate from party politics other than simply 
the duties required of them as citizens under a Municipal Govern- 
ment. To obviate this difficulty, however, we find many of their 
leading men — the active spirits in our Orange Institutions — the 
prime theatre of whose operations seems to be the political arena. 
Besides the Lodges enumerated above, there are three Chapters. 

The St. John's R. A. Chapter which has been in existence over 
30 years, and has in connexion with it a Council of the Red Cross 
Knights, and a Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners. This Chapter is 
under the Grand Chapter of Scotland. 

St. Andrew's Chapter is a much more recent organization, and is 
under the Grand Chapter of England. 

King Solomon's Chapter, a recent organization, is under the 
Grand Chapter of Canada. 

Then there is Geoffrey de St. Aldemar's Encampment of Knights 
Templar, which winds up the fraternity. Some years ago, there was 
a schism in the body of Free and accepted Masons in Canada, chiefly 
amongst those who held Charters from the Grand Lodge of Ireland, 
in consequence of an alleged neglect on the part of the Grand Lodge 
of England, to which all Canadian Masons had hitherto owned alleg- 
iance. Communications sent from Canada were unanswered for 
months at times, and there appeared a general lack of interest in re- 
gard to the Canadian Lodges. Happily, however, for the fraternity, 
the rupture has been healed by the withdrawal of all the Lodges 
from their connexion with England, and the establishment of one 
Independent Grand Lodge for Upper Canada — the Worshipful 
Grand Master of which is W. P. Wilson, of Simcoej County of Nor- 
folk. 

Loyal Orange Ls-STiTUTioisr.— There are fifty-two Orange Lodges 
in the County of York, twenty-seven of which hold their meetings 
within the limits of the Toronto District. The average attendance 
of members is sixty to each Lodge, making 1, 620 in the Toronto 
District, and 3, 180 in the County of York. The office-bearers are : — 

G. M. of Great Britain and Ireland— The Right Hon. the Earl of 
Enniskillen, K. St. P., Florence Court, Ireland. 

Deputy G. M of Great Britain and Ireland — The Right Hon. 
Lord Viscount Dungannon, Brinkynault Castle, England. 

G. M. of British America — George Lyttleton Allen, Toronto* 
Upper Canada. 

Deputy G. Masters of British America — George C. Ward, Port 
Hope, Upper Canada; Thomas R. Ferguson, M.P., Cookstown„ 



BELIGIOUS, NATIONAL, AND EEATEENAL SOCIETIES. 175 

Upper Canada ; R. A. Young, Aylmer, Lower Canada ; Hon. John 
Earle, Fredericton, New Brunswick ; Edward W. Potter, Digby, 
Nova Scotia ; William Meikle, Charlottetown, Prince Edward's 
Island. 

Grand Secretary, British America, — Nassau C. Gowan, Toronto. 
Grand Treasurer, British America — Alderman Strachan, Toronto- 
Grand Chaplain, British America, — Rev. Stephen Lett, LL.D., 
Toronto. 

County Master of York — Major Button, Markham, XJ. C. 
District Master of Toronto — Francis H. Medcalf, Toronto, 

DISTRICT Or TORONTO. 



No. 



4 
136 
137 
140 
164 
201 
212 
215 
269 
275 
SOI 
328 
375 
387 
396 
404 
501 
506 
507 
551 
588 
621 
657 
675 
752 
781 
821 



Mastehs' Names. 



James Burns 

John Rogers 

Ogle R. Gowan. . . . 
William Adamson . 

Henry Purvis 

James Reynolds 

William Niehol . . . 
Alexander Moffatt . 
George Edwards . . 

F. H. Medealf 

William Hopkins . . 

John T. Nudel 

William Strachan . 
Wm. Hen. Boulton . 

John Wilson 

John Thompson . . . 
Thomas Kennedy. . 
Wiiliam Douglas . . 
Andrew Fleming . . 
John Holland 
Arbuckle Jardine. . 
Wm. Hen. Hewton. 
Arthur L. Reeves . . 

S. B. Campbell 

John Irwin 

Thomas Plunkett . . 
John Malcolm 



TIME OF 
MEETING. 



1st Monday. 
1 st Friday . . 
1st Tuesday. 
2nd Tuesday 
2nd Friday . 
1st Friday. . 
2nd Wednes. 
1st Friday. . 
3rd Friday . 
2nd Monday. 
1st Thursday 
2nd Friday . 
2nd Thurs.. 
2nd Wednes. 
1st Thursday 
2nd Tuesday 
2nd Monday. 
2nd Wednes. 
1st Tuesday. 
3rd Monday. 
2nd Wednes. 
1st Monday. 
1st Monday . 
1st Wednes. 
1st Thursday 
1st Thursday 
1st Thursday 



PLACE OF MEETING. 



Orange Hall, Tonge Street. 

do do 

do do 

do George Street. 

do Highland Creek. 

George Penniford's, Yonge Street. 
Orange Hall, Yonge Street. 
Moffatt's Hall, Town Line. 
Yorkville. 
Orange Hall, Church Street. 

do George Street. 

do Yonge Street. 

do Church Street. 

do do 

Wilson's Confectionary, Church St. 
Orange Hall, Yonge Street. 

do do 

do Yorkville. 

do Church Street. 

do do 

Royal Arms Inn, Queen <fe Eliz. St. 
Hopkins' Inn, Front Street, 
Little and Riddel's, Queen Street. 
Orange Hall, Yonge Street. 
Temperance Hall, Etobieoke. 

do Brock Street. 

Orange Hall, Scarboro'. 



Odd Fellows. — There are two Lodges of Odd Fellows in Toronto, 
both of which, have been established upwards of 15 years. They are 
in connexion with the Manchester Unity and number about 200 
members. The Head Quarters of the Grand Lodge of the Canadian 



176 TOEONTO. 

Order of Odd Fellows is in the City of Hamilton where reside the 
Grand Master and the Board of Direction. The principal worthies 
of the Lodges here are : — 

Toronto Lodge. — Noble Grand Master, W. Parsons, junr. ; Secre- 
tary, James O. Pell. 

Ontario Lodge. — Noble Grand Master, Samuel Harris; Secretary 
J. Rutley. 

Toronto Typographical Society. — This society was formed on 
the 9th of February, 1844, principally as a benefit society — to sup- 
port members out of employment or when sick, and to assist them in 
finding employment either in the city or elsewhere. The majority 
of the printers in town belong to the society. The office bearers for 
the present year are : — President, John Love ; Vice-President, Da- 
vid Sleeth ; Secretary, De Vere Hunt ; Treasurer, John Burns. 

Committee : — Thomas A. Bowron, William Cullin, Thomas Wilson. 



SECTION X —COURTS OF LAW. 

By an Act intituled, "An Act for making more effectual provision 
for the Government of the Province of Quebec, in North America," 
(14 Geo. III., chap. 83), it was provided " that in all matters of con- 
troversy relative to property and civil rights, resort should be had to 
the laws of Canada, as the rule for the decision of the same ;" but by 
a subsequent Act, being the first Act passed in Upper Canada, (15th 
October, 1792,) the statute of 14 Geo. IIL, chap. 83, was repealed, 
and it was thereby enacted that, " in all matters of controversy rela- 
tive to property and civil rights resort should be had to the laws of 
England as the rule for the decision of the same." This latter Act 
remains in force except so far as the laws of the Province have been 
varied from those in England ; and no Act passed in England since 
has any effect in this country unless by the English Act reference is 
specially made to this Province. The Act to establish trial by jury 
was passed in this country in the same year (1792) and came in force 
on the 1st December of that year. There appears at this period to 
have been established a Court of Common Pleas ; but tliis Court by 
34 George III. , chap. 2, was abolished, and the same was not re- 
established till 1849 (12 Vic, chap. 63.) The Court of Queen's 
Bench in this Province was established on the 9th July, 1794, (34 
Geo. IIL, chap. 2). By that Act it was provided " that His Majesty's 



COTTETS OP LAW. 17 

then Chief Justice of this Province, together with two Puisnd 
Judges, should preside in the said Court, and that the same should 
be holden in a place certain, that is, in the city, town, or place 
where the Governor or Lieutenant Governor shall usually reside, 
and until such place be fixed, the said Court shall be holden at the 
last place of meeting of the Legislative Council and Assembly." By 
the same Act a Court of Appeal was established. 

The Court of Chancery was established in 1837, (7 Wm. IV., ch. 
2), the judicial powers whereof were exercised by a single Judge 
known as " The Yice Chancellor of Upper Canada." 

Toronto is the chief seat of law in Upper Canada. In it are held 
the meetings of these Courts. The Court of Probate which was 
originally established 9th July, 1793, is also held here ; and also the 
Law Society of Upper Canada, which was established by 37 George 
III., chapter 13, (1797), whereby the then legal practitioners 
were incorporated, "as well for the establishing order amongst 
themselves as for the purpose of securing to the Province and 
the profession a learned and honorable body to assist their fellow 
subjects as occasion may require, and to support and maintain 
the Constitution of the said Province ;" and they were thereby em- 
powered to make rules for its government under the inspection of 
the Judges of the Province for the time being, as Visitors. This 
Act was in part repealed and amended by 2 Geo. IV., ch. 5, (1822), 
by which latter Act it was enacted ' ' That the Treasurer and Bench- 
ers of the Law Society, for the time being, and their successors, are 
declared to be a body corporate and politic by the name of the Law 
Society of Upper Canada." Under the By-laws and regulations of 
the Society, the affairs of the same are governed by the Board of 
Benchers, of which there are at present about sixty, consisting for 
the most part of gentlemen of long standing in the profession, many 
of whom seldom now sit in Convocation. A certain number of 
Benchers sit in Convocation every Term for the purpose of transact- 
ing the business pertaining to the Society, and to admit Students 
and Barristers. The examination in both cases is conducted in the 
presence of the Benchers. In the admission of Students the ex- 
amination is generally conducted by the Examiner to the Society, 
and is a Scholastic examination. A Student having passed this first 
examination, and having kept what is called his terms, and attended 
lectures, is at the end of five years entitled to an examination for a 
call to the degree of Barrister ; or if the Student be a graduate of a 
British or Canadian University, he is entitled to his degree at the 
end of three years upon passing the requisite examination. The 



178 TOBONTO. 

examination for the degree of Barrister is in the various branches of 
law, and is conducted by Barristers appointed by the Benchers. 
Students upon passing the first examination are entitled to the use 
of the Library of the Society, and all Barristers are members of the 
Society. 

Each Student pays on admission £10, and upon being called to 
the Bar £20, besides which each Barrister pays what are called 
Term Fees; these form the revenue of the Society. Attorneys 
have to take out their certificates annually to enable them to prac- 
tise ; the amount payable for such certificates is regulated by the 
Society. Most of the members of the legal profession are both 
Attorneys and Barristers, and entitled to practice both branches of 
the profession ; a different rule exists in England, the two branches 
of the profession there being distinct, a Barrister cannot also be an 
Attorney, nor can a practising Attorney also practise as a Barrister. 

The Law Society furnishes the Courts of Queen's Bench, Common 
Pleas, and Chancery, with the necessary accommodation at Osgoode 
Hall, under an agreement entered into with the Government. The 
library consists of about 2,000 volumes, and is continually increasing 
by new text books, and the English and American Reports being 
added as fast as they are published. Below is a list of the Officers 
of the Law Society and of the Benchers : 

Officers. — Treasurer, The Hon. Robert Baldwin, C.B. ; Secretary, 
Librarian, and Examiner, Hugh N". Gwynne ; Committee of Econo- 
my, Hon. R. Baldwin, C. B. ; S. Connor, LL. D., Q.C. ; and O. 
Mowat, Q. C. 

List of Benchers. — B. C. Beardsley, Hon. H. J. Boulton, Q.C. ; 
Thos. "Ward, Geo. Ridout, Hon. John Rolph, Hon. G. S. Boulton, 
Hon. J. E. Small, M. S. Bidwell, W. Elliott, Hon. R. Baldwin, 
C.B. Q.C. ; David Jones, G. Rolph, R. Berrie, G. S. Jarvis, D. Be- 
thune, Sir A. K McNab, Bart., Q.C. ; T. Ejirkpatrick, Q.C. ; C. 
Gamble, M. F. Whitehead, G. Malloch, G. Boswell, E. C. Campbell, 
Miles O'Reilly, Q.C. ; W. Notman, Hon. J. H. Cameron, Q.C. ; G. 
Sherwood, Q. C. ; Hon. E. Murney, James Smith, Q. C. ; John Wil- 
son, Q. C. ; Hon. J. A. Macdonald, Q. C. ; John W. Gwynne, Q. C. ; 
Hon. John Ross, Q. C. ; Hon. S. B. Harrison, Q. C. ; Hon. J. S. 
Macdonald, Q.C; Marcus Burritt, D. B. O. Ford, Chas. Baby, G. 
Duggan, Jr., A. J. Fergusson, Hon. J. C. Morrison, Q.C. ; John 
Crawford, Adam Wilson, Q.C. ; G. B. Lyon FeUowes, Q.C. ; S. 
Brough, N. Kirchhoffer, S. B. Freeman, Q. C. ; Skeffington Connor, 
LL.D., Q.C. ; Hon. P. M. Vankoughnet, Q.C. ; J. Shuter Smith, 
H. C. R. Beecher, Q.C. ; O. Mowat, Q.C. ; H. Eccles, Q.C. ; Henry 



COTTBTS OF I>AW. 179 

Smith, Q.C.; L. Wallbridge, Q.C. ; R. Miller, G. A. PHUpots, G. 
W. Burton, Alex. Campbell, Stephen Richards, junr. ; Thos. Gait, 
D. B. Reed, Rolland McDonald, Q. C. ; John BeU, John Ogilvie 
Hatt, and John Hector. The Chief Justices, Chancellor, Puisne 
Judges, and Vice-Chancellors, are by Statute constituted Visitors. 

The name of the building belonging to the Society is derived from 
Chief Justice Osgoode, the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada, who 
was appointed in 1792. Hon. W. Dummer Powell, the first Puisne' 
Judge, was appointed in 1794. John White, the first Attorney 
General of Upper Canada, was appointed in 1794. 

Up to 1837 the Court of Queen's Bench (then King's Beneh) con- 
sisted of the present Chief Justice, who was appointed in 1829, and 
two Puisne Judges ; in that year two additional Judges were added. 
In 1849 the Court of Common Pleas was established, to which James 
Buchanan Macaulay was appointed Chief Justice, and each court 
then and since continues to consist of a Chief Justice and two Puisne* 
Judges. Both courts have the same jurisdiction. The following 
are the names of those who now occupy the beneh, with the other 
officials of the Courts : — 

Court of Queen's Bench. — Chief Justice, Hon. Sir J. B. Robinson, 
Bart. ; Puisne Judges, Hons. Arch'd. McLean and R. E. Burns ; 
Clerk of the Crown and Pleas, C. C. Small ; Reporter, J. L. Robin- 
son ; Senior Clerk, John Small ; Junior ditto, Thos. Coxwell ; Crier 
and Usher, Andrew Fleming ; Court-Keeper for Superior CourtSj 
James Alexander. 

Court of Common Pleas. — Chief Justice, Hon. W. H. Draper, 
C. B. ; Puisne Judges, Hons. W. B. Richards and J. H. Hagarty ; 
Clerk of the Crown and Pleas, L. Heyden ; Reporter, E. C. Jones ; 
Senior Clerk, A. F. Scott ; Junior ditto, G. C. Goldsmith ; Clerk 
in Chambers, W. B. Heward ; Clerk of Process, Robert Pearson ; 
Crier and Usher, Daniel Connell. 

Court of Chancery. — By an Act of Parliament of the then Pro- 
vince of Upper Canada, passed in the 7th year of the reign of Wil- 
liam IY. , chap. 2 (1837), the Court of Chancery was first established, 
by which Act the Governor, or person administering the Govern- 
ment, was appointed Chancellor, and a Vice-Chancellor was appoint- 
ed, to whom was given all the judicial powers of the Court. The 
late Hon. Mr. Jamieson was the first Vice-Chancellor appointed to 
this Court, and continued to be the only Judge until the Court was 
reformed by 12th Vic. chap. 64 (1849), whereby a Chancellor and 
two Vice- Chancellors were appointed to that Court. The Hon. 



180 TOBONTO. 

Wm. Hume Blake, the present Chancellor, was then appointed, and 
Mr. Jamieson retained his seat as one of the Vice-Chancellors, and 
the present Hon. J. C. P. Esten was appointed to the remaining seat. 
Mr. Jamieson shortly afterwards resigned, and Mr. Spragge, the 
then Master of the Court, who had for many years discharged the 
duties of both Master and Registrar of the Court under Mr. Jamie- 
son, was appointed Vice-Chancellor, since which there has been no 
change. The other officers are : Master, A. N". Buell ; Registrar 
and Reporter, A. Grant ; Master's Clerk, Wm. Stanley ; Registrar's 
Clerk, John Black ; Court-Keeper and Messenger, A. Ross. The 
three Judges sit in full court once a week (Tuesdays) to hear special 
applications ; but by a recent statute they have power to sit separate, 
which will greatly facilitate the business of the Court, and one Judge 
sits every day in Chambers, except during the Christmas and Mid- 
summer Vacations. The Judges now go upon circuit, for the pur- 
pose of taking evidence in the different county towns, practitioners 
now having the privilege of laying the venue wherever they may 
prefer, thereby enabling their clients to produce witnesses, who 
generally reside in the neighborhood, without having to incur the 
expense of bringing them to this city, as was formerly the case. 
Witnesses are now examined viva voce. There are still complaints 
made against this Court on the ground of delay ; this appears to be 
owing principally to the amount of business to be done in the 
Master's office, to discharge the duties of which one Master is quite 
inadequate. There is at present a prospect of either an extra 
Master being appointed, or Members of the Chancery Bar being 
made Referees, for the purpose of taking references, and thereby 
relieving the Master from a portion of his duties. 

There are two Terms for the examination of witnesses, of two 
weeks each, and also two Hearing Terms of the same duration, be- 
sides which many causes are heard by way of Motions for Decrees, 
and Hearings pro confesso out of term. 

Court or Error and Appeal. — The same Act which established 
the Court of Common Pleas (12 Yic, chap. 63) established the pre- 
sent Court of Error and Appeal. It consists of the Judges of the 
Courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Chancery. Ex-Chief 
Justice Macaulay has recently been appointed as an additional Judge 
of this Court. It has jurisdiction of appeal from each of the three 
Courts. Clerk, A. Grant. 

County Courts. — These Courts are presided over by Judges who, 
at the period of being appointed such, were barristers of at 



COTJBTS OF LAW. 181 

least five years' standing, and have original jurisdiction in civil 
matters, in cases of open account of £50 currency, and £100 cur- 
rency in cases of notes or bills, &c. , and in cases of torts to personal 
chattels of £30, with trial by jury. Appeals are had to the Courts 
of Queen's Bench and Common Pleas. They have also equitable 
jurisdiction, under 16 Yic. , cap. 119 ; and the registration of bills 
of sale and chattel mortgages, under Acts 12 Vic, cap. 74, and 13 
& 14 Vic. , cap. 62 ; also the registration of limited partnerships is 
made with the clerks of the County Courts under 12 Vic, cap. 75. 
Four terms one week each, commencing on the second Tuesday in 
the months of March, June, September and December in the year. 
Vacation from 1st July to 21st August. Hon. S. B. Harrison is at 
present Judge of County Court for the United Counties of York and 
Peel ; Walter Mackenzie, Clerk. 

The offices of this Court, as well as those of all others, except the 
Courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Chancery, are located 
in the Court House. 

Insolvent Debtor's Court. — The Hon. S. B. Harrison, as Judge 
of the County Court, also presides in this Court for the relief of 
insolvent debtors. 

Division Court. — This Court was also, till recently, presided 
over by the Judge of the County Court. The Recorder of the City 
now discharges that duty. Allan McLean Howard is Clerk of 
Toronto division. The jurisdiction of this Court extends to £25 in 
amount, so far as regards matters of debt or contract, and £10 in the 
matters of torts. 

Court of Quarter Sessions. — The Magistrates of the County, of 
whom Judge Harrison, as Comity Judge, is ex officio Chairman, 
hold a Court of Quarter Sessions four times a year for trials by Jury 
of Criminal offences. Sittings first Tuesday in January, April, and 
July, and third Tuesday in November. Clerk of the Peace, George 
Gurnett, Esq. ; Deputy, John H. S. Dolmage. 

Court of Probate. — Judge (ex officio), the Governor General ; 
Official Principal, Seeker Brough ; Registrar, C. FitzGibbon. 

Surrogate Court. — Judge, S. B. Harrison ; Registrar, Wm. J. 
FitzGerald. 

The Courts of Probate and Surrogate exercise the powers and 
functions which the Ecclesiastical Court exercises in England relative 
to the probate of wills and the administration of the estate of intes- 



182 TOBONTO. 

tates. In cases where parties die leaving property in more than one 
County, those interested must prove the will in the Court of Probate 
which is held in Toronto. It is open throughout the year for the 
proof of wills and the granting of probate, and committing letters of 
administration to the estate of intestates. It has four terms in every 
year, commencing on the first Monday in January, last Monday in 
March, first Monday in June, and the last Monday in September. 
The Surrogate Court is held on the same days as the Probate Court. 

Recorder's Court. — This Court is to the City what the Quarter 
Sessions is to the County, for the trial of small offences. It was 
created in 1852, George Duggan, Junior, being appointed Recorder ; 
Mr. Charles Daly is Clerk of the Court. 

It is held four times a year : on the first Monday in January, 
April, July, and October. 

Heir and Devisee Commission.— Established by statute 8 Vic, 
cap. 8. Commissioners : the Judges of the Superior Courts and 
suGh other persons as may be appointed under the Great Seal. 

The duties of the Commissioners are to determine claims of lands 
in Upper Canada for which no patent has issued from the Crown, in 
favor of the proper claimant, whether as heirs, devisees, or assignees. 
Sittings are held at Osgoode Hall, first Monday in January and July, 
continuing till the Saturday of the ensuing week. Clerk of Com- 
missioners, H. B. Heward. 

Assizes.- — The Court of Assize is held in Toronto three times a 
year (Winter) commencing on the Thursday in January next after 
the Municipal Elections, (Spring) the second Monday in April, and 
(Autumn) the second Monday in October. Clerk of Assize, W. A. 
Campbell. 

Law Terms. — In Queen's Bench and Common Pleas, Hilary 
begins first Monday in February and ends Saturday of the ensuing 
week. Easter begins third Monday in May and ends Saturday of the 
ensuing week. Trinity begins last Monday in August and ends on 
Saturday of the ensuing week. Michaelmas begins third Monday in 
November and ends Saturday of the ensuing week. 

Attorneys and Solicitors have to take out their certificates annually 
to enable them to practise, in Michaelmas Term each year, except 
the year of their admission. 

The long vacation commences 1st July and ends 21st August. 

Chief Justices.— The following is a list of the Chief Justices of 



COURTS OE LAW. 191 

Upper Canada, since its constitution as a separate Province, in 1791 
(Geo. III. cap. 31) to 1857 :— 

Hon. William Osgoode (Queen's Bench) 1792 

" JohnElmsley do 1196 

" Henry Alcock do 1802 

" Thomas Scott do 1806 

" "Wm. Dummer Powell do 1816 

" William Campbell do 1825 

" John Beverly Robinson do 1829 

" James Buchanan Macaulay (Court of Common Pleas) 1849 

" William Henry Draper do do 1856 

List of Puisne* Judges from 1791 to 1857 :— 

Hon. William Dummer Powell 1794 

" Peter Russell 1794 

" John Elmsley 1794 

■ Henry Alcock 1798 

" Thomas Cochrane 1803 

" Robert Thorpe 1805 

" William Campbell 1811 

« D'Arcy Boulton 1818 

" Levius Peter Sherwood 1825 

" James Buchanan Macaulay 1827 

" John Walpole Willis 1827 

" Christopher A. Hagerman 1828 

" Jonas Jones 1836 

" Archibald McLean 1836 

" William Henry Draper , 1847 

" Robert Baldwin Sullivan . 1848 

" Robert Easton Burns 1850 

" William Buell Richards 1853 

" John Hawkins Hagarty 1856 

List of Attorneys General from 1791 to 1858. 

Hon. John White 1792 

" Thomas Scott 1801 

* William Firth 1807 

" John McDonnell 1811 

" D'Arcy Boulton 1814 

" John Beverly Robinson. 1818 

" Henry John Boulton 1828 

■ Robert S. Jamieson 1833 

" Christopher A. Hagerman 1837 

" William Henry Draper 1840,1844 



184 TOEONTO. 

Hon. Henry Sherwood 1847 

" Robert Baldwin 1848 

" William Buell Richards 1851 

« John Ross , 1853 

" John Alexander McDonald 1854 

" John Sandfield McDonald 1858 

Legal Holidays. — The Interpretation Act (12 Vic. cap. 10) 
enacts that the word "holiday," when used in any provincial statute, 
shall include Sundays ; New Year's Day ; the Epiphany, 6th Janu- 
ary ; the Annunciation, 25th March ; Good Friday, moveable ; 
Ascension Day, moveable ; Corpus Christi, moveable ; St. Peter 
and St. Paul's Day, 29th June ; All Saint's Day, 1st November ; 
Christmas Day, 25th December ; and any day appointed by procla- 
mation for a General Fast or Thanksgiving. 

By the 14th and 15th Vie. cap. 94, it is enacted, that for the pur- 
pose of protesting bills of exchange and promissory notes, the fol- 
lowing days shall be deemed non-juridical days : — Sundays, Christ- 
mas Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Fast or ' 
Thanksgiving Days, Queen's Birth-day, and that all other days shall 
be juridical days. 

Sheriff's Office. 

Sheriff.- — Frederick William Jarvis, for the United Counties 
of York and Peel. 

Jurors. — The Clerk of the Peace in each district of the province 
makes a list annually from the assessor's returns of the inhabitant 
householders, and delivers the same to the Sheriff. Every person 
on such list is qualified to serve as a juror. No person can be com- 
pelled to serve on a jury, at either Assizes or Quarter Sessions, who 
has served within one year preceding. 

County Attorney. — Richard Dempsey. 

There are about 125 practising attorneys, solicitors, and barristers 
engaged in their profession in the city of Toronto. 

Registry Office. — This is an office established by Act of Parlia- 
ment for the public registering of deeds, conveyances, wills, judg- 
ments, and other incumbrances upon or affecting any lands, tene- 
ments, or hereditaments. The office is in Toronto Street. Registrar 
for County of York, John Ridout. 



SCIENTIFIC AND LITEEAET INSTITUTIONS. 185 

SECTION XI— LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC 
INSTITUTIONS. 

The Mechanics' Institute. — This institution was established in 
1830 under the title of the "York Mechanics' Institute, or Society 
for mutual improvement in the Arts and Sciences. The success 
which had attended the establishment of the Mechanics' Institute 
and School of Arts in Edinburgh in 1821, and the subsequent esta- 
blishment of a similar institution in London in 1824 led, no doubt, 
to the formation of the institution in York, as Toronto was then 
called. Its founders looked with watchful and enquiring eye to any 
movement in the parent country which tended to increase the ame- 
nities of social life, separated as many of them felt themselves from 
the society and associations which had cheered their earlier existence. 
We find in the list of its first office bearers the names of Dr. Baldwin, 
Dr. Rolph, Dr. Dunlop, Mr. ex-sheriff Jarvis, Jesse Ketchum, John 
Ewart, David Paterson, and James Lesslie, — names inseparably asso- 
ciated with the political, social, educational and literary progress of 
Toronto. In their original resolution they caught a glimpse as it 
were of the refreshing stream which was about to gladden and 
refresh the isolated settlers in this distant land. They say : " the 
object of this society shall be the mutual improvement of mechanics 
and others who become members of the Society, in Arts and Sciences, 
by the formation of a Library of reference and circulation, — by the 
delivery of lectures on Scientific and Mechanical subjects, — the estab- 
lishment of classes for the instruction of members in the various 
branches of study : — and for conversation on subjects embraced by 
this constitution, — from which all discussion on political or religious 
matters is to be carefully excluded. " 

To the prudence here displayed we owe the present prosperous 
state of the institution. In 1830 York contained 2860 inhabitants 
and we can easily imagine that unity of purpose was requisite to 
such an undertaking. Had the association been confined exclusively 
to Mechanics on the one hand, or had there been the slightest scope 
on the other for the display of religious or political preferences, — 
long ere this the institute would have been numbered with the 
antiquities of Toronto. Such an association was needed in a social 
point of view to relieve the monotony which generally prevails in 
small towns, and it is matter of gratulation that what was so well 
begun has kept pace with the progress and prosperity of this fine 
city. 

In 1800, the benevolent and worthy Dr. Birkbeck established a Me- 

N 



186 TOBONTO. 

chanics' Institute in Glasgow, but for fifteen long years the din of 
battle hushed every nobler aspiration, and, when at length external 
peace had dawned, a rustling was heard among the dry bones. War's 
alarms had subsided, but the political emancipation for which Palmer 
and Skirving and their compatriots sighed and suffered, again agita- 
ted the public mind, with all the freshness of its former vitality, only 
once more, however, to be crushed by a relentless civilized treachery. 
Bonnymuir was the culminating point, and the innocent blood shed 
at Stirling was the seed of a political regeneration soon to spring into 
existence. It was not then till this agitation, in which the mecha- 
nics of Scotland took so deep an interest, had been dissipated, that 
the principle of literary and scientific improvement by means of 
Mechanics' Institutes began to be developed. In 1821, an Institute 
similar to that in Glasgow was established in Edinburgh, and three 
years thereafter — in 1824 — the London Mechanics' Institute was es- 
tablished by the same zealous friend of humanity who, twenty-four 
years before, had originated the movement in Glasgow. Several 
similar associations soon followed in London. On the 24th of April, 
1828, we find Lord Denman opening one in Aldersgate with a speech 
in which he showed the advantages of combining a literary taste with 
commercial pursuits. The learned gentleman said : ' ' The very least 
advantage that can arise is the acquisition by great numbers of a 
taste for English literature. Let us pause for a moment to consider 
the extent and value of this alone. Ask yourselves if any prospect 
of emolument would tempt you to forego it ; and, in observing others, 
contrast the man of active habits who can devote his hours of leisure 
to his intellectual gratification, with him who is destitute of such a 
resource. Most of us have observed, in various departments of life, 
strong natural talents, acting with marvellous precision in some nar- 
row round of daily employment, but from the want of general culti- 
vation, incompetent to any other effort. How lamentable a waste 
of time would have been reclaimed in such cases had all the faculties 
been taught activity. How many starts of unseemly irritation — how 
many tedious hours of languor would have been avoided. How many 
low-thoughted cases of sordid gain — how much degrading sensual in- 
dulgence would have been changed for the present enjoyments, at 
once independent and social in their nature, delighting the mind in 
its intervals of idleness, and bracing it for the more cheerful and 
effective discharge of duty." 

If our Toronto Mechanics' Institute has not equalled in success 
either of its prototypes, the difference in condition will afford an am- 
ple excuse. It must be borne in mind that when once the almost 



LITEBAEY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS. 187 

impervious crust of caste had "been rent, Edinbtirgh and London had 
each of them a host of wealthy and influential men to take the lead 
in such a movement and give it a healthy, vigorous tone. Never- 
theless, our association has progressed wonderfully, and when once 
its new buildings are taken possession of, various classes will be 
formed in consonance with the original ideas of the founders of these 
institutions. The number of members is at present over 800. The 
Library contains nearly 4000 volumes, ^ind there is also the nucleus 
of a Mechanical Museum. The office bearers for the present year 
are : — 

President John Harrington. 

First Vice-President „ Rice Lewis. 

Second Vice-President Hiram Piper. 

Treasurer .... John Paterson. 

Recording Secretary Robert Edwards: 

Corresponding Secretary J. H. Mason. 

Librarian (Honorary) James Brett, Jr. 

Committee. 

William Edwards, Joseph Rowell, 

J. E. PeU, John McBean, 

Benjamin Walton, William Hay, 

Samuel Rogers, Alexander Hamilton^, 

D. G. Carnegie, ^W. H. Rice, 

Patrick Freeland, W. H. Sheppard. 

The receipts from all sources, for the past year, amounted to 
£858 5s. 2|d; the expenditure to £851 12s. 2d; leaving a balance 
in hand of £6 13s. OJd. 

There are upwards of 140 Mechanics' Institutes in the Province. 
An annual grant of £50 is made by Parliament to each of them, the 
total annual grant being £7,300. 

The Canadian Institute.— This institution, as its name imports, 
is provincial in its character and somewhat higher in its aims and 
pretensions that the local Institute just referred to. In the summer 
of 1849, the Canadian Institute took its rise as a society to be com- 
posed of Civil Engineers, Land Surveyors, Architects and men of 
distinguished attainments in science or the arts. The first meeting 
was held on the 20th of June and the second on the 20th of July. 
The plan of operations was to be the formation of a library, the col- 
lection of maps and drawings, and the formation of a Museum for 
models, geological specimens and antiquities. Meetings for dis- 



188 TORONTO. 

cussion were to be regularly held, and papers on scientific subjects 
read. As early as 1831, a Literary and Philosophical Society was 
formed by three gentlemen whose names have had more than a local 
interest — Dr. E ees, the founder of the Lunatic Asylum ; Dr. Dunlop, 
whose valuable Report on Education was of so much service in lead- 
ing to the organization of the present school system, and Charles 
Fothergill, whose Royal Almanac for Upper Canada from the varied 
information which it contains, preserves its interest to the present 
time. Their aim was noble and extensive. They were to investigate 
' ' the Natural and Civil history of the Colony, and of the whole in- 
terior as far as the Pacific and Polar seas, throughout the animal, 
mineral and vegetable kingdoms and to promote the cultivation of 
Natural History, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, the Fine Arts 
and other Scientific and Literary pursuits. Unfortunately for the 
present age, they did not carry out their noble purpose. 

The Canadian Institute might have shared a similar fate and been 
numbered now with the things that were, but its founders saw that 
the original conception was too exclusive, and the basis was extended 
to include all men of a literary or scientific turn of mind. An Act 
of Incorporation was granted on the 4th of November, 1851, and 
Sir William Logan was elected its first President. The first section 
of the regulations says : "The Canadian Institute has been estab- 
lished by Royal Charter for the purpose of promoting the Physical 
Sciences, for encouraging and advancing the Industrial Arts and 
Manufactures, for effecting the formation of a Provincial Museum, 
and for the purpose of facilitating the acquirement and the dissemi- 
nation of knowledge connected with the Surveying, Engineering, 
and Architectural professions. " Sir William Logan was succeeded 
as President by Colonel Lefroy, then Superintendent of the Mag- 
netical Observatory, and from the very great interest he took in the 
meetings and in the welfare of the Institution generally, its members 
increased rapidly. In August, 1852, a quarto monthly Journal 
of the proceedings and papers read, and other literary and 
scientific information, was commenced under the editorial supervi- 
sion of Professor Hind. On the opening of the Session of 1855-6 
the size of the journal was changed to crown octavo, and an Editing 
Committee appointed to superintend the various departments. The 
onerous duty of general Editor has been since that time very ably 
performed by Professor Wilson of University College. 

As an acknowledgment of the gratuitous services of the Editor, the 
Institute, at its meeting on the 19th December, 1857, on motion of 



LITERABT AND SCIENTIC INSTITUTIONS, 189 

F. W. Cumberland, unanimously voted the sum of £120 to be placed 
at the disposal of the Council for presentation in such manner as, 
whilst expressive of the gratitude of the Institute, may be most 
acceptable to Dr. Wilson ; and which was accordingly expended on 
a service of silver plate. 

Col. Lefroy was succeeded as President by Sir John Beverly 
Robinson, Bart. , who was re-elected the following year, and was 
succeeded by G. W. Allan. Mr. Chief Justice Draper succeeded 
Mr. Allan, and was re-elected at last annual meeting. The office 
bearers are : — 

President — The Hon. Chief Justice Draper, C.B. 

1st Vice-President — Col. Baron de Rottenburg, C.B. 

2nd do — John Langton, M.A. 

3rd do — Hon. W. B. Robinson. 

Treasurer — D. Crawford. 

Recording Secretary — Thomas Henning. 

Corresponding Secretary — E. A. Meredith. LL.D. 

Librarian — Professor Croft, D.C.L. 

Curator — Professor Hind, M. A. 

Council — Professors Wilson, Chapman, Hincks, and Cherriman, 
Sanford Fleming, C.E., and J. G. Hodgins, M. A. 

The Editing Committee are : — 

General Editor — Dan. Wilson, LL. D. 

Geology and Mineralogy — E. J. Chapman, Prof, of Geology and 
Mineralogy, Univ. Coll., Toronto. 

Physiology and Natural History — Rev. Wm. Hincks, F.L.S., 
Prof, of Natural History, Univ. Coll., Toronto. 

Ethnology and Archaeology — Daniel Wilson, LL. D. , Prof, of His- 
tory and English Literature, Univ. Coll., Toronto. 

Agricultural Science — H. Y. Hind, M.A., Prof, of Chemistry, 
Trim Coll., Toronto. 

Chemistry — Henry Croft, D.C.L., Prof, of Chemistry and Ex- 
perimental Philosophy, Univ. Coll. , Toronto. 

Mathematics and Natural Philosophy — J. B. Cherriman, M.A., 
Prof, of Natural Philosophy, Univ. Coll. , Toronto. 

Engineering and Architecture — Sanford Fleming, C. E. 

An amalgamation took place between the Institute and the Toronto 
Athenaeum in 1855, by which the library of the Institute was con- 
siderably increased and the nucleus of a Museum formed. The 
membership is now upwards of 500. 

It was anticipated that by this time the Institute's new buildings 



190 TOBONTO. 

would have been completed ; but the times have been unpropitious. 
In 1855, a very fine building site on the south-west corner of Pem- 
broke Street, was presented to the Institute by G. "W. Allan, then 
President, and on the 14th of November of the same year, the 
corner stone of the projected building was laid by His Excellency 
the Governor General. The site is 154 feet on Pembroke Street 
with a depth on Wilton Crescent of 140 feet. In reference to the 
proposed plans for building, the Report of the Building Committee 
presented at last annual meeting, says : " Although highly approving 
of the general design and convenient arrangements of the contem- 
plated buildings, they believe that the plans provide greater accom- 
modation than will probably be required for several years, and that 
the cost of the erection would very much exceed the means at the 
disposal of the Institute. They endeavored therefore to ascertain 
how far, without abandoning the hope of ultimately completing the 
whole, some portions of the design might for the present be alto- 
gether postponed, or only partially finished. They found, however, 
that even upon this supposition they could not hope to obtain a 
building which the Institute could occupy under an outlay of £6,000, 
and that even then it would be in an unfinished state, and in many 
respects inconvenient in its arrangements, whilst the necessary alter- 
ations would very much increase the cost of completing the original 
design if this should afterwards be found practicable." The Com- 
mittee abandoned the original plans, and Messrs. Cumberland and 
Storm prepared new ones ; but " in the present financial difficulties 
it has been judged more prudent to postpone any action in the 
matter for another season. " 

Toronto Literary and Debating Society. — We have several 
societies of a literary cast in the city, which although not assuming 
the dimensions and importance of Institutes, are useful in their 
own sphere, and find their most fitting locality under this head. 
The Toronto Literary and Debating Society was organized on the 
7th of July, 1853, for the cultivation of literature and the art of 
public speaking. The society meets in the Mechanics' Institute 
Hall on Thursday evenings at 8 o'clock ; weekly in winter, and 
semi-monthly in summer. An essay is read, and a question debated 
every night of meeting. The office-bearers are : E. T. Fletcher, 
President ; W. B. Sullivan, Thomas Hodgins, LL. B. , and A. 
Marling, Vice-Presidents ; James Bright, Secretary ; J. H. Jackson, 
Assistant Secretary ; F. J. Joseph, Treasurer ; Edgar Judge, A. 
Howell, D. A. Sampson, LL. B. , J. C. Stewart, and Richard Lewis, 
Council. 



LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS. 191 

Young Canada Debating Club. — This Society was also organ- 
ized in 1853. Its objects as set forth in its reports are : Improve- 
ment of the mind, study of literature, practice in composition and 
in public speaking by debating questions and giving recitations, <fce. 
The Society meets on Tuesday evenings at half-past seven o'clock, 
in the basement of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, corner of 
James and Louisa Streets ; but is not denominationally connected 
with the Louisa Street Church. Its evenings are devoted to reading 
an essay and debating some historical or political question. The 
office-bearers are : S. A. Johnson, President ; John McCaul, Vice- 
President ; William Paterson, Treasurer ; Samuel Gibson, Secretary. 

Ontario Literary Society. — This Society was formed in De- 
cember, 1856, for a similar object with the preceding. It meets on 
Tuesday evenings, weekly, in the basement of the Temperance 
Hall, at 8 o'clock. In his last Annual Report the Secretary regrets 
— "That the writing and reading of original essays seems to have 
fallen into disuse in the Society, which is much to be regretted, 
however it is to be hoped that during the next term some arrange- 
ment will be made to revive this excellent means of mutual improve- 
ment." The number of members on the roll is fifty-five. The 
attendance is good. The office bearers are : D. S. Eastwood, Presi- 
dent ; W. L. McGillivray, 1st Vice-President ; E. Murdoch, 2nd 
Vice-President; Daniel Spry, Treasurer; M. Willoughby, Jun., 
Secretary. 

Gould Street Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society. 
— This Society was formed in the Autumn of 1857. Its inaugural 
meeting was held in the Gould Street United Presbyterian Church, 
a number of ministers taking part in the proceedings. The 
pastor of the Church, the Rev. Dr. Taylor, presided, and the Rev. 
Dr. Burns, Rev. Dr. Ryerson, Rev. Dr. Green, Rev. Mr. Fyfe, 
Rev. Mr. Marling, Rev. Mr. Greig, and J. C. Geikie, delivered 
addresses to a large audience of young men. The meetings were 
kept up with interest till March, its term closing then. The object 
of the Society is the mutual improvement of the members by de- 
bating questions, reading essays, conversations on useful topics, and 
by a Magazine to be contributed to by the members. All its meet- 
ings are opened and closed with prayer, — and no denominational or 
political subjects are discussed. The Magazine is a new and inter- 
esting feature in these societies. An editor having been appointed, 
members write articles, sketches, narratives, or poetry, as the case 
may be, on uniform sized paper, and hand them to the editor, who 



192 TOEONTO. 

arranges them and makes editorial remarks thereon, and having col- 
lected the papers for the month, he reads them to the society. As 
the names of the writers are not known, except to the editor, the 
utmost liberty is given for critical remarks. This Society devotes 
every fourth night to the Magazine, and if any time is left after the 
papers have been read, it is filled up by recitations. The term closed 
with a soiree in the basement of the Church, on the last monthly 
meeting in March, at which the representatives of several of the 
other literary societies were present, and spent an agreeable evening. 
The term opens on the first Monday of October. The Society meets 
in the Divinity Hall of the United Presbyterian Church, Gould 
Street, on Monday evenings. The office-bearers are : 

President David Fotheringham. 

First Vice-President James Barrie. 

Second Vice-President David Morice. 

Secretary and Treasurer T. Wardlaw Taylor, M.A. 

Committee of Management — W. Brown, Thomas Armstrong, John 
Ferguson, and the President and Secretary ex officio. 

The British Canadian Debating Society. — The object of this 
society is the discussion of literary, social and political topics. It was 
organized during the past winter. The office bearers are : — Presi- 
dent, Benjamin Langley ; Vice-President, E. P. Roden ; Secretary 
and Treasurer, Henry Langley. The society meets on Tuesday even- 
ings at 8 o'clock, in the basement of Presbyterian Church, Louisa 
street. 

University College Literary and Scientific Society. — This 
society was established by the students attending University College, 
on the 22nd February, 1854, as a College Debating Society. Meetings 
are held on Friday evenings during term, and an Essay is read and 
a question debated, as in the societies already referred to. Every 
f ourth meeting is public, and the Professors and others are invited to 
attend. There is also a Reading Room supplied with Canadian and 
American Papers, and the Reviews. The number of members is 
about a hundred. The office bearers for the present year are : — 

President Thomas Hodgins, L.L.B. 

Vice Presidents j Thomas Moss, B. A. 

( Alexander Cattanach, M.A. 

Secretary W. J. Rattray, B.A. 

Treasurer B. F. Fitch. 

Curator David Ormiston. 



LITERABY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS. 193 

Committee of management — M. Crombie, M.A., Nicol Kingsmill, 
M.A., C. D. Paul, B.A., J. H. Holcomb. 

Metropolitan Choral Society. — This Society was recently- 
established for the purpose of insuring to the citizens, during the 
winter months, a regular series of musical performances, at a mode- 
rate expense and on such an extensive scale as will contribute mate- 
rially to their pleasure and aid in the promotion of a taste for the 
highest order of musical art. Music is the sweetener of life, and the 
more thoroughlyjt is diffussed through a community the more real 
happiness and genuine social comfort will that community enjoy. 
The time has indeed been when music was so associated with invete- 
rate and pernicious customs, as to make one quail at the thought 
of its more general diffusion, when the leaders and the most success- 
ful performers were in their private capacity enslaved by vicious 
habits. Happily for social comfort these customs no longer hold 
regal sway, and we rejoice that the leading spirits in this society 
afford sufficient guarantee that no countenance will be given to what 
has the slightest tendency to warp the mind or weaken the purifying 
force which music naturally possesses. ' ' The words of a song may 
outlive the most eloquent sermons in the memory of the young. 
How important, therefore, that memories, which commence with the 
life, be favored with songs worthy of lasting till life's close" — wedded 
to music, the natural and spontaneous outburst of the soul — 

That sweet, ethereal effluence 

Which breathed upon the tremulous air 

In silvery undulations, 

And all that virtue, love, or Heaven 

Bestows, is sweetened, — even misery ! 

By its mellifluous cadence 

Is transformed to bliss. 

The office bearers of this Society are : — 

Conductor — Martin Lazare. 
President — J. D. Humphreys. 
Vice-President — Rev. G. Onions. 
Treasurer — P. Armstrong. 
Secretary — G. F. Graham. 

Committee — John Murphy, H. R. Fripp, W. Briscoe, George 
Harcourt, A. ISToverre, C. It. Brooke, and John Forsyth. 



194 TOEONTO. 



SECTION XII.— MISCELLANEOUS. 

Provincial Agricultural Association. — In 1830 we find the 
Legislature recognizing the fact that Upper Canada is essentially an 
Agricultural country, by passing an Act, 4th Geo. cap. 10, "to 
encourage the establishment of Agricultural Societies in the several 
Districts of the Province. " This Act provided that when any Society 
was established t ' for the purpose of importing valuable live-stock, 
grain, grass seeds, or useful implements," and had £50 subscribed and 
paid into the hands of the Treasurer of said Society, it should then 
be lawful for the Governor to issue his warrant to the Receiver 
General for the sum of £100 annually to such Society, so long as it 
should continue to raise such sum of £50. Local Agricultural 
Societies organized by enterprising individuals in different parts of 
the Province had existed for several years prior to this, so that it 
was not the mere spontaneous volition of the Legislature which gave 
birth to these important organizations. 

In 1835 this Act was amended by 4th William cap. 11. In 1837, 
the previous Act having expired, another Act, 7th William cap. 23, 
was passed to establish Agricultural Societies, and providing that 
when £25 had been paid to the Treasurer the sum of £200 should be 
granted by Government. In 1841, the first year after the union of 
the provinces, an Act, 4th and 5th Vic. , cap. 23, was passed, con- 
tinuing the Act of 7th William cap. 23 in full force till 1844. In 
1845 another Act, 8th Vic. cap. 54, was passed, similar to the one 
just expired, but providing that £250 annually should be paid by 
Government, instead of £200 as in the previous Act, and providing 
also that the Secretary of each Society should, within fifteen days of 
the opening of each session of the Provincial Parliament, transmit 
to the three branches of the Legislature a report of its proceedings, 
showing the amount of subscriptions during the year and the amount 
received from the public chest, the expenses of the Society and the 
persons to whom it may have granted premiums, and the objects for 
which such premiums were obtained. 

In 1847 the Provincial Agricultural Association which had been 
formed in 1846 was incorporated by the Act 10 and 11 Vic. cap. 61, 
passed on the 8th of July. This Act does not interfere with the 
organization authorized by previous Acts further than providing that 
the Agricultural Association should be governed by a body of Direc- 
tors to be chosen, two from each District, by the District Agricultu- 
ral Societies, and also that the Association might receive from the 
District Agricultural Societies such sums of money as they might 



MISCELLANEOUS. 195 

choose to appropriate for the purpose of furthering the objects of the 
Association. Thus was the Provincial Association legally incorpo- 
rated, but years of friendly discussion had intervened, long letters 
had been written on the subject, and columns of reasons and argu- 
ments for the establishment of such an Association had been pub- 
lished in the British American Cultivator, then ably edited by the 
late Mr. G. W. Edmundson, ere the auspicious event had transpired. 
Various preliminary public meetings were held, and suggestions 
offered and resolutions passed, which led to a convention of delegates 
from each of the general and local Agricultural Societies held at the 
Court House in the City of Toronto on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of 
July, 1846. At this convention the synopsis of a constitution for 
the proposed Association was submitted, subject to the consideration 
of another similar meeting to be held at the City of Hamilton on 
the 17th of August following. 

At this meeting in Hamilton, held pursuant to adjournment, the 
Provincial Agricultural Association and Board of Agriculture for 
Canada West was formed, and its constitution adopted. The Asso- 
ciation is governed by a President, two Yice-Presidents, a Treasurer 
and Secretary, chosen annually by delegates sent by the several 
District Agricultural Societies. Col. E. W. Thomson was its first 
President, John Wetenliall and Mr. Sheriff Ruttan Vice-Presidents, 
and W. G. Edmundson Secretary and Treasurer. 

Provincial Exhibitions. — On the 21st and 22nd of October of 
the same year the Association held its first exhibition in Toronto, 
which the Cultivator represents as having been both "spirited and 
creditable," many of the articles entered for competition comparing 
favorably "with the best of their kind found in any portion of 
Europe or America. Several departments of the Exhibition were 
held in the old Government House, and at the close of the first day's 
proceedings upwards of two hundred persons, including the most 
influential in the province, sat down to a public dinner in the 
Government House, and speeches were made by Mr. Chief Justice 
Robinson, Rev. Dr. Ryerson, and several other gentlemen, which 
were listened to with the deepest interest. On the second day of 
the Exhibition, the Hon. Adam Fergusson, ever foremost in the 
promotion of Agriculture, delivered the Address — a duty now annu- 
ally devolving on the retiring President. The hon. gentleman dis- 
cussed at considerable length and with great ability the entire field 
of agricultural pursuits. "Canada," he says, "though thousands 
in Britain, wrapped up in wilful darkness, shiver at its name, igno- 
rant alike of its real capabilities and value, is nevertheless blessed by 



196 TOBONTO. 

a bounteous Providence with every advantage which can minister to 
the comfort and support of man. Let only her religious and moral 
culture keep some adequate pace with her temporal improvement, 
and who shall dare to assign bounds to her advances in civilization 
and wealth. Of all the pursuits which engage the physical energies 
or which rouse the intellectual resources of our race, there is none 
which can at all bear a comparison with the occupation of the hus- 
bandman. * * We have in all ages been too readily dazzled by 
glare and tinsel, or led astray by the noise and clamour of ambitious 
men ; but it has been universally conceded by the wisest and the 
best that the largest portion of human happiness will be ever found 
in the peaceful pursuits of human life. * * I feel far more in- 
tensely than I can possibly express that our very existence, as a use- 
ful institution, must altogether depend on a firm and scrupulous 
exclusion of all topics of a party or political nature from the Board. 
I thank God we have a great and magnificent arena, upon which 
every man in Canada may contend, in honourable and patriotic com- 
petition, untainted by party jealousies or strife, and most devotedly 
should we all pray that party feeling or party intrigue may never be 
known amongst us." 

The second exhibition was held at Hamilton on the 6th and 7th 
days of October 1847 — amount of prizes £750. At the public dinner 
on the occasion, His Excellency Lord Elgin delivered one of those 
fascinating and inimitable orations which rendered him so justly 
and universally popular in Canada. 

The third exhibition took place at Cobourg on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 
and 6th days of October, 1848, the whole amount of prizes offered was 
about £775. 

The fourth exhibition was held at Kingston on the 18th, 19th, 20th, 
and 21st of September, 1849. At this exhibition, Professor Johnston 
of Edinburgh, Author of the Chemistry of Common Life, delivered 
an interesting address, in which he urged the importance of educat- 
ing the farmer in order to improve Agriculture, and raise the posi- 
tion of the farmer on the social scale. 

The fifth exhibition was held at Niagara on the 18th, 19th, and 
20th September, 1850. The prizes offered amounted to £1276 19s. 
9d. The total number of entries was 1638. The sixth exhibition 
took place at Brockville, on the 24th, 25th, and 26th September. 
The prizes offered amounted to £1,256 9s. 3d. The number of 
entries was 1,466. The seventh exhibition was held at Toronto, 
21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of September, 1852. The prizes offered 
amounted to £1,470 9s. 9d. The number of entries for competition 



MISCELLANEOUS. 197 

was upwards of 3,000. The number of visitors was estimated at 
40,000. The receipts at the gates for admision tickets and members 
tickets amounted to £1,132 4s. 4s. The amount received in dona- 
tions from County Agricultural Societies was £269 7s. 6d. From 
the City Council of Toronto and the County of York Council the 
sum received was £992 15s. And the expenditure in buildings, 
premiums and general expenses was about £2,400. 

We have thus gone the circuit with the Provincial exhibition — and 
after a few years of the same sort of rotatory motion, Toronto is again 
to be the theatre for the display of the mechanical genius and the 
agricultural productions of the province. 

There is no doubt that our annual exhibitions in some of their 
features have been attended with the best possible results, as a 
stimulus has been given thereby to many of our handicraftsmen, 
which but for such exhibitions they might not have received in a 
long series of years. There is in so large a collection of mechanics 
from all points of the compass, a comparing of ideas upon various 
improvements, and a determination roused in the mind of some one 
to make something that will excel anything yet produced. Some 
happy thoughts strike one as he gazes for the first time upon a new 
implement, and the idea that some little change for the better might 
be made upon it is at once conceived. He sets to work and by and 
by something more perfect in symmetry, more complete in arrange- 
ment, or more effective in operation fills his mind's eye. In this 
way do the germs of improvement spread, just as the seeds which 
nature furnishes with wings that they may find a soil and a shelter 
wherever the winds of heaven may locate them. 

The isolated developments of genius attracted by the spirit of 
emulation, and concentrated on the public show grounds again ra- 
pidly diverge from this their common centre through new and various 
channels to points of location hitherto unblessed by such efforts. 
Without some such friction of mind with mind — the great value of 
new inventions and improvements in agricultural implements would 
be comparatively lost. We had a forcible illustration of this some 
few years ago in Bell's reaping machine. Tins implement invented 
by a Scotch clergyman in 1828, and successfully worked in some 
fields in Forfar, was so little known throughout Scotland and England, 
that when McCormick's reaper was exhibited at the world's fair in 
1851, it was hailed as a new and great invention, and nearly every 
paper in Britain contained some flaming account of the great inven- 
tion of that great people that live on the other side of the water, not 
knowing all the while that it was a fac simile almost of that of their 



198 TORONTO. 

native genius. From such considerations our annual provincial ex- 
hibitions have for years formed quite a feature in our provincial 
arrangements — although the migratory system, no doubt inaugurated 
with the best of motives has not been attended with the happiest 
results. It no doubt extends the area of interest in these exhibitions 
to have one at the Western extremity of the province one year and 
at its Eastern extremity the next with a few annual perambulations 
in the interior to vary the scene. It demonstrates too that there is 
no exclusiveness connected with them. But here the advantages 
end, the corresponding disadvantages far more than counterbalance 
all the theoretical benefits contemplated by such a system. A con- 
siderable annual expense has been entailed in the erection of tempo- 
rary buildings for exhibition purposes, just to be torn down again 
when the exhibition terminated. But this annual expense was not 
the worst of the affair. These buildings from their very temporary 
character have been all along exceedingly inconvenient. At the last 
exhibition in Toronto the halls were altogether too small and were 
not of the best construction to accommodate a crowd. Various 
plans have been adopted in the intervening years but still the same 
difficulty has been felt. The crowds of people which pressed into 
them on the great public days of the show were always disappointed, 
as they got little more than a bird's eye glimpse of the various articles 
exhibited as they were borne along half stifled through the narrow 
passages. The exhibitors too were often grievously disappointed, 
some of them, at having their productions disposed beyond the line 
of vision, others with having their more delicate handiwork so des- 
troyed by the rain pouring in through the leaking structure, that 
they have left with the determination never again to put themselves 
to as much trouble as they had done. 

The Board of Agriculture has not been insensible to the existenec 
of these evils, but the idea of equal justice to all has overcome every 
other feeling. At the close of the exhibition in Toronto in 1852, 
the following propositions were submitted by Angus Cameron, of 
Kingston, to the Board, with a view to remedy somewhat the evils 
complained of, and were referred for further consideration. After a 
lapse of six years, the principle embodied therein has been acted 
upon in such a spirit as to confer the highest credit on the Province, 
while it will very materially enhance the interest of the Exhibition. 
" That it would be of great importance to the interests of agriculture 
throughout the province that each county should be enabled to erect 
buildings for the purpose of receiving and protecting all such pro- 
ductions as may be exhibited at county shows, rather than continu- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 199 

ing the practise of erecting temporary buildings, at great expense, 
and removing them after a few days' use. That it be recommended 
that the President of the Association and Board of Agriculture 
memorialize the Governor General in Council to appropriate a sum 
of money, not less than £250 to each county, for the purpose of pro- 
curing land whereon to hold their annual exhibitions and erect 
buildings. This boon from the Government to be conferred only on 
such counties as shall procure by subscriptions an equal amount for 
the purpose of erecting such buildings as may be required. 

The provincial Government kept this proposition in view in so far 
as York is concerned, for in granting to the Corporation of the City 
of Toronto the fee simple of that portion of the Garrison Reserve 
lying immediately south of the Lunatic Asylum for a public Park, 
they made this condition, that not less than twenty acres of the 
Reserve should be appropriated for the holding of the Provincial 
Agricultural Association's exhibitions, whenever it may be required 
for that purpose. 

The Crystal Palace.— In the early part of the year the Associa- 
tion turned its attention to the subject of buildings for the forth- 
coming exhibition, and plans for a building principally of iron and 
glass were advertised for, the premiums for the two best to be £30 
and £25 respectively. On the 24th of April thirteen plans were sent 
in for competition. Two of these were selected by the committee, 
and, strange to say, they were both from one firm. Messrs. Fleming 
and Schreiber, Civil Engineers in the city, were found to be the 
successful competitors for both prizes. As the committee approved 
of the details of certain portions of each design, the Engineers were 
requested to prepare a plan embracing the advantages of both, and 
on the 22nd of May tenders were received for the erection of the 
building. The tender of Messrs. Smith, Burke & Co., Sash and 
Window-Blind Manufacturers, Niagara Street, proposing to con- 
struct the building for the sum of £4,870 10s., was accepted, and 
the time being limited, the work was immediately commenced. 

To meet the expense incident on the erection of permanent 
buildings, the City Council voted the very liberal sum of £5,000, 
and the Council of the United Counties of York and Peel voted 
£1,000 to the same object ; which, with the appropriations from 
County and Township Agricultural Societies, has enabled the com- 
mittee to make all their arrangements in such a way as to ensure 
the utmost satisfaction from all parties. The ground has been 
drained, levelled, and fenced in, and pens constructed all round for 
the reception of cattle, sheep, poultry, &c. &c, at the Exhibition. 



200 TOEOtfTO. 

Being in close proximity to the three lines of railway, a switch has 
been constructed so that goods coming from either section of the 
province by railway may be unloaded at the southern entrance of 
the Exhibition without any further trouble or expense. 

The corner stone of the building was laid by the Board of Agri- 
culture on the 15th of July, in presence of a large concourse of 
citizens. The Mayor of the City, Colonel Thomson, President of 
the Agricultural Association ; Mr. Ex-Sheriff Jarvis, Col. Denison, 
and the Hon. P. M. Vankoughnet, Minister of Agriculture, taking 
part* in the ceremony. The Rev. Dr. McCaul, President of Uni- 
versity College, acted as chaplain. The Inscription placed in the 
cavity was as follows : 

"On the loth day of July, A.D. 1858, in the 22nd year of the 
reign of Victoria, by the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the 
Faith, His Excellency Sir Edmund Walker Head, Bart., C. B., one 
of Her Majesty's most honorable Privy Council, being Governor 
General of the Province, this the foundation stone of a Crystal 
Palace, wherein under the direction of the Provincial Agricultural 
Association, the resources of Upper Canada shall be fostered by the 
annual exhibitions of the evidences of its progress in agriculture and 
the industrial arts, was laid by the Honorable Philip M. Vankoughnet, 
President of the Executive Council and Minister of Agriculture, 
assisted by Edward W. Thomson, Esq. , President of the Board of 
Agriculture of Upper Canada, William B. Jarvis, Esq., President 
of the Board of Arts and Manufactures, and William H. Boulton, 
Esq. , Mayor of the City of Toronto. 

' ' The officers of the Provincial Agricultural Association being D. 
B. Stevenson, Esq. , President ; William Ferguson, Esq. , and John 
Wade, Esq., Vice-Presidents; Richard Lippincott Denison, Esq., 
Treasurer ; Professor George Buckland and William Edwards, Joint 
Secretaries ; Professor Henry H. Croft, Chemist, and Mr. James 
Fleming, Seedsman. 

"Members of the Board of Agriculture. — Edward W. Thomson, 
Esq. , President ; Henry Ruttan, Esq. , Vice-President ; Hon. Adam 
Fergusson, J. B. Marks, David Christie, M.P.P., Richard L, Deni- 
son, Asa A. Barnham, and George Alexander. 

" Toronto Local Committee. — William H. Boulton, Mayor of the 
City ; F. W. Jarvis, Sheriff of the County ; Willinm B. Jarvis, 
Esq. ; Rev. Dr. McCaul, Dr. Daniel Wilson, Alderman Read, 
Alderman Brunei, Alderman Boomer, Alderman Ritchie, Alderman 
Carr, J. E. Pell, Samuel Walton, J. D. Humphreys, Joseph Hart- 
man, M.P.P., Warden ; George Taylor Denison, Alexander Shaw, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 201 

Professor Buckland, and all the members of the Board of Agri- 
culture. 

"Architects. — Messrs. Fleming and Schreiber. 

"Builders. — Messrs. Smith, Burke and Meldrum." 

A tin case containing the following articles was put in the stone : 
Transactions of the Board of Agriculture for 1856-7 ; Canadian 
Agriculturist, May, 1858 ; Act of Incorporation of the Bureau of 
Agriculture ; By-laws of the Board of Arts and Manufactures, 1857 ; 
Annual Report of the Toronto Mechanics' Institute ; Catalogue of 
the Library of the Mechanics' Institute ; Horticultural Society's 
Report, 1858 ; copies of the Daily Colonist, Globe, Leader, and Atlas, 
July 15, 1858 ; and of the Canada Gazette ; Farmers' Association 
Report, 1858 ; Canadian Journal ; Coins, — one florin, an English 
shilling, a half-sovereign, and four copper coins ; Maclear's Almanac, 
with map of Canada, 1858 ; a copy of the Montreal Wit7iess ; a 
small bottle of wheat ; Twelfth Annual Address to the Agricultural 
Association, by G. Alexander, Esq. ; Annual Report and Minutes 
of the Agricultural Association, 1858 ; copies of the Markham 
Economist, the Paris Star, and Barrie Spirit of the Age. 

A very handsome silver Trowel, with a suitable inscription, was 
presented to the Minister of Agriculture with which to perform the 
ceremony. A portion of the building being pretty far advanced be- 
fore the corner stone was laid, the spectators had a very good view 
of the proceedings, — and the Band of the Royal Canadian Rifles 
stationed in the western gallery, kept them in good humor with their 
lively music. 

The Palace is cruciform in style, the main body of it forming 
a parallelogram 256 feet in length, and 96 feet in width, — with two 
central projections in the north and south parallels, 16 feet by 64 
feet, and 16 feet by 44 feet, giving an extreme width of 144 feet, 
which includes a covered entrance or porch in the southern front, 
16 feet by 32 feet. There are four entrance doors, one in the centre 
of each parallel. The total area under the roof is upwards of 33,280 
superficial feet, which includes a space of 1,280 superficial feet, 
covered by four spacious stairs leading to the gallery. The super- 
ficial extent of the gallery is estimated at 11,000 feet ; the extreme 
height from the ground floor to the central roof is 55 feet. The 
walls are chiefly cast iron and glass, after the design, in a consider- 
ably modified sense, of the Crystal Palace of 1851. The glare of 
the circular tin roof relieves the eye a little as you approach ; but 
the building looks very low, and as if crushed down by the superin- 
cumbent mass of roof. It would have been greatly improved in 



202 TORONTO. 

effect had the glass walls been carried up beyond the line of the gal- 
lery floor some three or four feet, or had the roof been broken by 
perpendicular lights to relieve it from that heavy dome appearance. 
This would of course have involved an extra expenditure which the 
exchequer of the Association, perhaps, did not warrant. 

As already stated, the walls are chiefly cast iron and glass. They 
are 16 feet 10 inches high. The girders, which form their upper line 
are supported by 44 iron columns, dividing the entire building into 
48 compartments of 16 feet. Each of these compartments is filled 
up with wooden frame- work to a height of five feet, and with three 
circular headed sashes 8 feet 6 inches in height by 5 feet wide, each 
containing 15 lights 31 inches by lOf . The interior of the building 
is divided by columns reaching from the floor to the roof, and form- 
ing a nave, with northern and southern transepts, and two extended 
aisles. These aisles are again divided longitudinally by two rows of 
columns, forming a central parallelogram 80 feet by 32 feet, and two 
side ones 80 feet by 16 feet. The nave is 64 feet scjuare within the 
columns, and is lighted by a window in the roof 23 feet square, with 
tapering lights 34 inches long each. The transepts are 64 feet 
by 16 feet each. In the eastern corner of the northern transept 
there is a saloon 16 feet square fitted up for the acoommodation of 
the ladies in attendance at the exhibition ; in the western corner 
there is an office of similar dimensions for the Secretary ; and in 
the centre of this same transept an orchestra 32 feet by 20 is erected, 
having a semi-circular front of plain truss railing, supported by a 
row of wooden columns. It contains four rows of seats, also semi- 
circular, for the accommodation of the performers, and immediately 
behind these there is a platform seven feet square for the reception 
of an organ. 

In the centre of the nave and immediately in front of the orchestra 
a fountain is erected to play during the Exhibition. 

The entrance transept doors are 20 feet wide by 14 feet high ; the 
entrance aisle doors are 10 feet wide by 14 feet high, all finished 
uniform with the walls. The main building is well ventilated, hav- 
ing forty-four ventilators 3 feet 3 by 4 feet 9 inches at regular inter- 
vals round the walls immediately under the gallery floors. Four 
substantial stairs, 7 feet 6 inches wide, each having two landings, 
lead to the galleries, which extend round the whole building, with a 
width of floor of 16 feet, guarded at its inner extremity by a plain 
truss railing 3 feet high. The tread of the stairs is 12 inches with 
an easy lift of 7 inches, while the height is greatly relieved by the 
spacious landings. The roof of the aisles rises 16 feet from the 



msOEfLLANEOXTS. 203 

gallery floor, forming an arch of 24^ feet span from the eaves. The 
aisles are each lighted by one window 64 feet by 16 feet wide, with 
side lights 3 feet high, the frames of which represent girders. The 
span of the central roof over the nave is 68 feet, supported by four 
pairs of principals, each rising 16 feet from the termination of the 
arch of the aisle roof, and 54 feet from the main floor. In the centre 
of this roof is the large square window already alluded to which 
lights the nave. Four tie rods stretch across at right angles from 
the spring of this centre roof. These ties are of If inch iron, stretch- 
ing 68 feet, tied at two different points, and supported by perpendi- 
cular rods 16 feet long. 

Eleven principals of a similar character to those "in the centre roof 
support the roof of the aisles, each having a span of 32 feet, with a 
rise of 47^ feet. This part of the design is very heavy, and would 
have been greatly relieved had there been half the number of princi- 
pals, framed a little heavier and sprung from the top of each column. 
The roof is all of wood, covered with tin, on the American ridge 
principle, affording the most perfect security against leakage, at least 
from any ordinary storm. The spandrils of the roof seem unneces- 
sarily heavy looking, they are, of course, all the more substantial. 
Twenty-four ventilators, similar in size to those in the main building, 
ventilate the galleries. In regard to the statistical department 
of the Buildng, it may be stated that 300 ten feet squares, or 
30,000 feet of tin, upwards of 300,000 feet of lumber, 9,000 feet 
of glass, 36 cwt. of nails, 98 tons of cast iron, have been used in its 
construction. The girders were tested to a pressure of eight tons, 
which is far more than they will be required to sustain. The glass 
was imported by the builders from Messrs. Chance, Brothers, Bir- 
mingham. It is finely obscured thick plate, similar to what was used 
in the Dublin Exhibition building. The cast iron work, — columns and 
girders, — was prepared at the St. Lawrence Foundry, by William 
Hamilton & Son, Founders and Machinists. 

The work altogether reflects the utmost credit upon the enterpris- 
ing firm of Smith, Burke <fe Co. , not only for its substantial appear- 
ance but for the expedition displayed in its construction. On the 22nd 
of May the tenders were received by the Committee, and on the 5th 
of September, a little over three months, the building was taken off 
their hands. It is in fact one of the few public works constructed in 
Toronto to the spirit and letter of the contract without the slightest 
scope for even the suspicion of a job. Had the Committee been able 
to expend another thousand pounds or so in elevating the glass walls, 
or in breaking the solid massive roof, it would have heightened the 



204 TOEONTO. 

effect of the building- considerably. As it is, they have made a great 
step in advance of anything hitherto connected with the display of 
our arts and manufactures, and when the City of Toronto gets some- 
what relieved from its burthensome debt, something more magnifi- 
cent, I have no doubt, will be achieved. 

Board of Agriculture. — On the 10th of August, 1850, an Act 
was passed establishing a Board of Agriculture in Upper Canada, and 
providing for the better organization of Agricultural Societies in 
Upper Canada. The Board to consist of ten members ; the Inspec- 
tor General and Professor of Agriculture to be members ex officio. 
Members to be chosen by Directors of County Agricultural Societies 
in Upper Canada, who shall elect seven persons residing near or at 
convenient distances from Toronto, which list of names shall be sent 
to the Provincial Secretary, who shall select the gentlemen therefrom 
who have the greatest number of County votes. In an Extra of the 
Canada Gazette of the 14th June, 1851, the names of the first Board 
are given as follows : — ■ 

B. W. Thomson, Township of York, 
Hon. Adam Ferguson, of Woodhill, 
Henry Ruttan, of Cobourg, 
B. L. Denison, of Toronto, 
David Christie, of Brantford, 
J. B. Marks, of Kingston, 
John Harland, of Guelph. 

On the fir&t meeting of the Board, Professor Buckland was chosen 
Secretary. The management of the Provincial Agricultural Asso- 
ciation is now vested in this Board. 

Bureau of Agriculture. — On the 10th of November^ 1852, an 
Act, — 16 Vic. , cap. 11, — was passed to provide for the establishment of 
a Bureau of Agriculture, in connexion with one of the public depart- 
ments, and to amend and consolidate the laws relating to Agricul- 
ture. The Minister of Agriculture, by this Act, is a member ex 
officio of all Boards of Agriculture in the Province ; receives all 
applications for patents for inventions in the Province and keeps 
records of the same ; is Chairman of the Board of Registration and 
Statistics, and has charge of the census and other statistical returns. 
It is his duty to collect useful facts and statistics relating to the 
Agricultural interests of the Province and to disseminate the same, 
and to prepare and submit to parliament each session a detailed 
report of his proceedings. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 205 

Board of Arts and Manufactures. — On the 10th of June, 
1857, the Royal Assent was given to the Act 2D Vic, cap. 32, for 
the promotion of mechanical science. The Act contemplates pro- 
moting the development of mechanical talent among the people of 
this Province by disseminating instruction in Mechanics and the 
kindred sciences and by affording increased facilities for the study of 
models and apparatus. The Act further contemplates providing 
for the establishment of Central Boards of Administration in Upper 
and Lower Canada respectively, connected and co-operating with 
the Mechanics' Institutes of the several Cities, Towns, and Villages, 
and to extend encouragement to arts and manufactures, and stimu- 
late the ingenuity of mechanics and artizans by means of prizes and 
distinctions distributed and awarded on the same principle as has 
been already so successfully applied to the encouragement of Agri- 
culture in this Province. The Central Board here created shall 
consist of the Minister of Agriculture for the time being, ex officio, 
the Professors and Lecturers in the various branches of Physical 
Science in all the chartered Universities and Colleges in Upper and 
Lower Canada respectively, the Chief Superintendent of Education, 
ex officio, the Presidents and one Delegate from each Board of Trade, 
and the Presidents and Delegates from each of the incorporated 
Mechanics' Institutes. The 27th section of the Act says : — 

"It shall be the duty of the said Boards of Arts and Manufac- 
tures to take measures, with the approbation of the Minister of 
Agriculture, to collect and establish at Toronto and Montreal re- 
spectively, for the instruction of practical mechanics and artizans, 
museums of minerals and other material substances and chemical 
compositions, susceptible of being used in Mechanical Arts and Ma- 
nufactures, with model rooms appropriately stocked and supplied 
with models of works of art, and of implements and machines other 
than implements of husbandry and machines adapted to facilitate agri- 
cultural operations, and free libraries of reference, containing books, 
plans and drawings, selected with a view to the imparting of useful 
information in connection with Mechanical Arts and Manufactures, 
to take measures to obtain from other countries new or improved 
implements and machines, not being implements of husbandry or 
machines specially adapted to facilitate agricultural operations, to 
test the quality, value and usefulness of such implements and ma- 
chines, and generally to adopt every means in their power to pro- 
mote improvement in the Mechanical Arts and in Manufactures in 
this Province ; and the Minister of Agriculture may cause duplicates 
or copies of models, plans, specimens, drawings and specifications 



206 TORONTO. 

deposited in the Patent Office, and upon which Patents of Invention 
have issued, to be made, from time to time, and placed in the Model 
Rooms, Museums or Libraries of the said Boards of Arts and Manu- 
factures respectively ; and it shall be lawful for the said Boards re- 
spectively, with the consent and approbation of the Minister of Agri- 
culture, to establish in connection with their respective Museums, 
Model Rooms or Libraries, Schools of Design for Women, on the 
most approved plan, and furnished and supplied in the most com- 
plete and appropriate manner that the funds at their disposal may 
admit of, regard being had to the claims thereon of the other objects 
for which they are hereby established ; and also to found Schools or 
Colleges for Mechanics, and to employ competent persons to deliver 
lectures on subjects connected with the Mechanical Arts and Sciences 
or with Manufactures ; and the said Boards shall keep Records of 
their respective transactions, and shall from time to time publish, in 
such manner and form as to secure the widest circulation among the 
Mechanics' Institutes and among Mechanics, Artizans and Manufac- 
turers generally, all such Reports, Essays, Lectures and other Lite- 
rary compositions conveying useful information as the said Boards 
respectively may be able to procure, and judge to be suitable for 
publication." 

In conformity with the provisions of the Act a meeting was held 
in the Mechanics' Institute, Toronto, and a Board of Arts and 
Manufactures for Upper Canada was organized. The provisions for 
Lower Canada are identical with those for Upper Canada. The 
President of the Board is Mr. Ex-Sheriff Jarvis ; Vice-President, 
Dr. Beatty of Cobourg ; Secretary and Treasurer, William Edwards. 
Their rooms are on King Street West, immediately over Mr. Pell's 
Picture Gallery. The nucleus of a Library is already formed, con- 
taining 137 large folio volumes of Engravings of English Patents, 
115 volumes of Specifications, and 24 volumes of Indices, all hand- 
somely bound in morocco. They have also commenced the forma- 
tion of a Library of reference, and have got all as far as published 
of the new edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, with several other 
works of reference. The Library is open during office hours for the 
convenience of the public. 

From the very specific wording of the Act under which the Board 
was organized, its Council very naturally thought it was their special 
duty to take the oversight of the fine art department of the provin- 
cial exhibitions ; — but the older association having succeeded so well 
in regard to the construction of their crystal palace, have not recog- 
nized the board in their arrangements. The board of arts has 



MISCELLANEOUS. 207 

therefore no part to play in the f orthcoming exhibition. The museum 
contains a great number of models of Canadian inventions from the 
patent office, — also open to the inspection of the public. The follow- 
ing is a classified list. 

No. of models in eseh class. 

1. Agricultural implements 82 

2. Cooking apparatus ,.., 9 

3. Chemical and Medicinal preparations 6 

4. Construction of buildings and other structures, and 

materials used 20 

5. Domestic utensils , , , 23 

6. Dairy utensils., , 19 

7. Hydraulics 15 

-8. Heating and ventilating apparatus , 8 

9. Marine models ,.., „ 9 

10. Musical instruments „ 4 

11. Miscellaneous , « 44 

12. Pumps and fire engines 6 

13. Railway and Locomotive improvements 30 

14. Sleighs, carriages and carriage gears 16 

15. Steam Engines and machinery for manufacturing 

purposes 78 

Canada Company. — This company was incorporated in 1826, 
and opened their office in No. 13 St. Helen's Plaee, London. Their 
Commissioners here were Hon. William Allan and Thomas Mercer 
Jones, who was succeeded a few years ago by the Hon. W. B. Robin- 
son. Their office is on the corner of King and Frederick streets. 
The original agreement between the Company and the Home Gov- 
ernment was for the purchase of a portion of the Crown and Clergy 
Reserves in this province. The Crown Lands consisting of 1,384,413 
acres, and the Reserves amounting to 829,430, acres forming a total 
2,213,843. These lands were valued at 3s. 6d. an acre by the com- 
missioners appointed by the Government for that special purpose. 
In consequence of some difficulty experienced with regard to the 
sale of the Clergy Reserves the price of which amounted to £145, 150 
5s. , these lands were withdrawn by the Home Government, and in 
lieu thereof a block of land, in the London and Western Districts or 
Huron Tract, of about 1,000,000 acres was made over to the Com- 
pany for the same aggregate amount fixed for the Reserves. This 
block formed part of an extensive tract which had been purchased 
by the Government from the Six Nation Indians, and at the time 
of its transfer to the Canada Company it was unsurveyed and unex- 



208 TOBOKTO. 

plored, and was at a considerable distance from any road or settle- 
ment. By a clause in the agreement, the survey was to be made at 
the expense of Government. The Company, in consequence of these 
disadvantages were allowed one third of the purchase money, £43,380 
to be expended on improvements such as canals, bridges, high roads, 
churches, wharfs, school houses and other works for the benefit of 
the settlers in the tract. This was in fact making the tract some- 
where about 2s. an acre. All plans of improvement were, however, 
to be submitted to the Governor in Council before being proceeded 
with, and all the works performed by the Company have been in 
accordance with plans and estimates approved by the Governor in 
Council. The Company were to be allowed 16 years from the 1st 
July, 1826 to complete their negotiations with the Government, 
paying the lands by regular annual instalments. 



SECTION XIII.— RAILROADS. 

The Northern Railroad. — A Railroad from Toronto to Lake 
Huron was talked of for years before Mr. Capreol had ever set foot 
in Upper Canada. But to the persevering energy of that gentleman, 
Toronto is indebted for the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railroad, — 
not only for its inception, but for furnishing from his own private 
resources, the means to pay all the preliminary expenses connected 
with the undertaking. Mr. Fothergill lamenting in 1839 the great 
loss which the London and Western Districts of Canada had sustained 
in the cession of Michigan, says : — " There is a measure that would 
go far to recompense the evil that has been inflicted — we mean the 
Lake Huron Railroad from Toronto. There will be no end to the 
advantages arising from this national work if it is undertaken on the 
scale and in the spirit in which such public works should be under- 
taken. Enterprising merchants at Oswego have long regarded this 
great measure as one of superlative importance." Mr. Capreol caught 
the idea and gave it embodiment in the Northern Railroad. 

Frederic Chase Capreol, second son of Thomas Capreol, of Bishop. 
Stofford, Hertfordshire, came to Canada in 1828 to assist in winding 
up the affairs of the old North West Fur Company, and after a resi- 
dence of three years in Montreal, returned to England. In 1833, 
he returned to Canada, and shortly after landing in New York, 
married a Miss Skyring, an English lady, who had come out with 
him in the same ship from England, and came on to Toronto, where 



BAILBOADS. 209 

Mr. Capreol intended to settle down. He purchased a large quan- 
tity of lands at the Credit, the result of which was a long and vexa- 
tious law suit, in which he ultimately came off successful. He then 
commenced business as a Commission Merchant, and continued as 
such until the idea of carrying out the Northern Railroad caused him 
to turn his attention in that way. His first project was to raise the 
necessary funds by means of a lottery — the proceeds of the tickets to 
be devoted to purchasing 100,000 acres of land on the line of the 
projected road — the idea being that the profit of the land alone, when 
opened up, would pay for the whole construction of the line without 
a sixpence further of expense from those who would embark in it. 
Sufficient inducements in the shape of prizes were held out to the 
purchasers of tickets, but the whole affair was looked upon with dis- 
trust by some and condemned as an immoral procedure by others. 
The consequence was that the lottery did not succeed. 

Although thus defeated in his first attempts, Mr. Capreol was not 
of a temperament to give up a plan he had determined to prosecute. 
He simply changed his course, and set vigorously to work to form a 
company, and to manufacture public opinion, an essential auxiliary 
to any new movement. I have heard amusing accounts of some of 
the meetings which took place at the initiation of the movement. 
A Bill was at length drafted and passed by the Legislature, but the 
Governor General reserved it for Her Majesty's assent. 

A new difficulty was thus thrown in the way, but it only called 
into active exercise a greater amount of determination. He resolved 
to set out immediately for England, and himself lay the Bill at the 
foot of the throne. With a view, therefore, to strengthen his hands, 
the gentlemen named in the Bill as Provisional Directors wrote him 
the following letter : — 

Toronto, 8th June, 1849. 

F. C. Capreol, — 

Sir, — As you are about to proceed to England, with a peti- 
tion to the Queen, praying that Her Majesty will be graciously 
pleased to give her assent to the Bill passed during the last session 
of Parliament, incorporating certain persons under the style and title 
of "The Toronto, Simcoe and Huron Union Railroad Company," 
which was reserved at the close of the session for the signification of 
Her Majesty's pleasure thereon, we felt that it might be satisfactory to 
your friends in England to be made aware of our intentions, upon 
the Bill receiving the Royal assent, to appoint you Manager, under 
its provisions, should we, being named in the Bill for that purpose, 
assume the duties of Directors. We think it due to you to say, that 



210 TOEONTO. 

as you were the projector of the scheme, which we have every confi- 
dence in, you are the person best entitled to that mark of our 
approbation, should your appointment be regarded as consistent with 
the interests of the Company, of which at present we see no reason 
to doubt. 

We are, Sir, your most obedient servants, 
Robert E. Burns, Charles Berczt, 

Jos. C. Morrison, M.P.P., Jos. D. Ridout, 

Benjamin Holmes, M.P.P., John Hibbert, Jr., 

Albert Furniss, George Barrow. 

H. J. Boulton, M.P.P., 
With this document in his pocket Mr. Capreol started for England, 
and had sufficient influence there, through family connections and 
otherwise, to get Her Majesty's assent to the Bill. He returned 
immediately, and made arrangements with Messrs. C. Story <fe Co. , 
large contractors in New York, to construct the road. The Bill 
received the Royal assent on August 29, 1849, and matters went on 
smooth enough until the turning of the first sod was talked of. Mr. 
Capreol got a handsome silver spade and an ornamental barrow pre- 
pared for the occasion, as arrangements had been made that Her 
Excellency Lady Elgin should first break ground ; but he had not 
the honor of presenting them, for at a meeting of the Board imme- 
diately prior thereto, a resolution was passed dismissing Mr. Capreol 
from his position as manager. He referred to the letter just quoted, 
but he was told, with a sarcastic sneer, by the President, that his 
friends in England must have been ' ' very green " if they built any- 
thing upon that letter, for there was not a word in it to say that 
they could not dismiss him when they thought proper. At this time 
the whole Board who had acted so cavalierly had only £37 10s. at 
stake in the concern. 

The first sod was turned by Lady Elgin, on the 15th of October, 
1851, before a large concourse of spectators, His Excellency acting 
the part of navvy to perfection. The day was cheerful, and the 
proceeding excited the deepest interest. The spot chosen was 
nearly opposite the Parliament Buildings. On the 15th of May, 
1853, the road was first opened to the public, and on the 2nd of 
January, 1855, it was finally completed. 

A good deal of sympathy was elicited on Mr. Capreol's behalf 
in consequence of the unhandsome treatment winch he had so unde- 
servedly received from the Board of Directors. His friends readily 
admitted that he had a hasty, energetic temperament, but it was 
just in consequence of possessing such a temperament that he had 



EAILEOADS. 211 

been enabled to accomplish a work which had called all his vigor 
and persevering energy into play. But even although that had 
amounted to an infirmity — which it certainly does not — all things 
considered, the Board might have been a little more lenient, when 
they reflected on the almost insuperable obstacles he had overcome. 
Knowing Mr. Capreol personally as I do, and having been 
cognizant of all the events as they transpired, I prefer giving the 
opinions of the press, and of public men, recorded at the time, to 
any remarks of my own, and the more especially as some of the 
gentlemen who took an active part in the drama have ' ' shuffled off 
this mortal coil. " The following editorial remarks, memorial and 
correspondence appeared in the Toronto Daily Patriot of 3rd Feb- 
ruary, 1852, then published by Samuel Thompson & Co. , a careful 
perusal of which will enable the reader to get a pretty fair idea of 
the unhandsome course pursued, a course sufficient to deter any 
man from stepping out of his way to promote any public measure 
whatever. 

THE NORTHERN RAILROAD. MR. CAPREOL. 

" This Journal has at all times been the zealous advocate of Rail- 
ways, as a means of rapidly and profitably developing the great 
resources of this magnificent Province — resources which, under pre- 
sent circumstances, may be considered as comparatively of little value, 
but which if opened up by improved opportunities, as regard convey- 
ance and a market, would render Canada one of the richest and most 
productive countries on the face of the American Continent. For this 
reason therefore, we should be most reluctant to originate any 
remarks that might, even by misconstruction, be considered as tend- 
ing to impede in any way the progress of our Northern Railroad. 
And in giving a place in our columns to what we consider a tempe- 
rate exposition — free from all personal grounds of offence to any 
body — of Mr. Capreol's appeal (as we may, we think, term it) from 
the provisional Board of Directors to the people of Canada, we are 
not, we conceive, doing any one thing that can be supposed to detri- 
ment the Road, though the facts of the case, as set forth in the 
document itself, may possibly reflect somewhat hardly upon the 
Directors of the Company. 

' ' It seems hardly credible that any Board of Direction, far less a 
merely provisional one, should not merely have treated Mr. Capreol 
in so harsh, we might say cruel, a manner, as to dismiss him, the 
projector of the enterprise, at a moment's notice and on no definite 
grounds of official misconduct, from the honourable situation of 
Manager — but, when respectfully memorialized by a numerous and 



212 TORONTO. 

influential body of their fellow citizens, should have treated that 
application with silent contempt, and not even so much as acknow- 
ledged its receipt ! The memorial, though doubtless penned by a 
friendly hand, and therefore somewhat more commendatory in its 
tone than some might concur in, is nevertheless, we believe, a correct 
recital of facts and in its every word respectful to the Directors. 
Not only are its averments substantially true, and its language 
courteous, but the recommendation it embodies is so very reasonable, 
indeed so unexceptionable, and the parties to whom all matters in 
dispute were proposed to be referred, are gentlemen, to whose judg- 
ment every one would so cheerfully submit, that it seems adding 
insult to injury to treat the prayer of the memorial so discourteously 
as it has been. 

" But this is not the only instance of the kind, for the Board of 
Trade — whose intervention Mr. Capreol also sought, and who had 
previously addressed the Board recommending arbitration — were 
treated, if not with actual discourtesy, at all events so slightingly, 
that their recommendation was apparently altogether disregarded. 

" It is, we admit, very likely that in the warmth of his natural dis- 
position, Mr. Capreol may have exhibited a hastiness of temper, not 
altogether compatible with his position. But in the name of every 
thing fair and just, are the people of Canada — who have to thank, 
" the industry and perseverance of one individual," (see Patriot, 
March 10) for the great boon of a Northern Railroad, and in the 
emphatic words of our worthy Mayor at the St. Patrick's celebration 
— are they we say, willing, on merely frivolous grounds, " to allow 
others to filch from that individual (F. C. Capreol,) the credit and 
honor to which he is so justly entitled?" 

" With these few prefatory remarks we leave the subjoined memorial 
to speak for itself, and we very much mistake the justice-loving 
character of our community, if, after perusing the document, they 
do not arrive at the conclusion that Mr. Capreol has been most 
harshly and ungratefully dealt with. " 

MEMORIAL. 

To the Board of Directors of the Ontario, Simeoe, and Huron Railroad 
Union Company : 
"Gentlemen, — We, the undersigned, shareholders, citizens, and others, 
interested in the successful completion and early operation of the Northern 
Railroad, having observed, with much regret, the recent proceedings of 
your Board towards Mr. Capreol ; and feeling assured that the effect of 
these proceedings, if not agaiu considered and rectified, will be not simply 
injurious if not unjust to Mr. Capreol personally, but calculated to greatly 



EAILEOADS. 213 

discourage individual enterprise and energy from attempting in future to 
accomplish any great public undertaking ; and, entertaining a reasonable 
hope that a temperate, though decided, expression of public opinion with 
regard to the course that ought, in all fairness to Mr. Capreol's services and 
claims, to be taken by the Board, so as to afford to that gentleman what is 
the birthright of every British subject, namely, the adjudication of his case 
by an independent and a disinterested authority — take leave respectfully 
to submit to the favorable attention of the Board the following considera- 
tions bearing upon Mr. Capreol's past services and present position as 
regards the Northern Railroad, namely: — 

1st. It must at once be admitted as a fact that all the combined influ- 
ences and efforts of the leading men of Toronto, as a Chartered Company, 
aided as they were by the still more powerful influence of the Canada 
Company, failed, after several years of active exertion and the expenditure 
of large sums of money in preliminary expenses, to mature anything like a 
satisfactory mode whereby a Railroad communication from Toronto to 
Lake Huron could be constructed ; and, in 1849, the attempt on the part of 
an influential direction to bring their charter into practical operation was 
abandoned as altogether hopeless. 

2nd. On the other hand, it must be readily admitted, as another fact, 
that the present satisfactory condition of a Railway communication from 
Toronto to Lake Huron (which it would be needless to dilate upon as the 
progress made in the work speaks for itself) is almost entirely attributable 
to the individual foresight, the untiring energy, and persevering efforts of 
Mr. Capreol, assisted and encouraged by the countenance and support of a 
few valued friends. But for these efforts on the part of Mr. Capreol, not a 
sod would have been turned in furtherance of an object so vitally important 
to the interests of this City — and Mr. Capreol's enterprize and manage- 
ment justly entitle him to be looked upon and acknowledged as the Father 
of this great undertaking ! 

3rd. Tn the course of Mr. Capreol's almost Herculean labours durino- the 
past four years, and at his own heavy expense and great risk, he has accom- 
plished results which the most hopeful looked upon as nearly impossible- 
and has conquered ob-tacles which, to men less sanguine and energetic 
than he has proved himself, would have been found insurmountable 
namely — 

" Under circumstances, peculiarly discouraging, Mr. Capreol, at a conside- 
rable expense of time and money, and by means of well directed personal 
exertions at the Seat of Government, succeeded in carrying through both 

Houses of the Provincial Legislature the present Act of Incorporation a 

measure of success which, how much so ever it might have been hoped 
for, it may safely be affirmed, was as little expected by ninety-nine out of a 
hundred of those who signed the petition to Parliament praying for the 
enactment. When the Bill was reserved by the Governor General for the 



214 TOBONTO. 

signification of Her Majesty's pleasure, Mr. Capreol (when the Board de- 
clined to incur the responsibility) at his own expense and risk forthwith 
proceeded to England, carrying with him credentials and recommendations 
from His Excellency ; and by means of his effective exertions, assisted by 
a propitious combination of family connection and personal influence, he 
succeeded in securing what it is quite safe to say no other man in Canada 
could have accomplished; for, in the short space of seven weeks Mr. Capreol 
returned to Toronto with the Royal Assent in his pocket; thus trium- 
phantly realizing for the Railroad everything that legislation could per- 
form in its behalf. 

" Passing over several intervening, but less prominent features of Mr. 
Capreol' b services rendered the Northern Railroad, it cannot be denied that 
the £59,000 stock, subscribed by the County of Simcoe, was effected almost 
entirely through Mr. Capreol's zealous exertions. The liberal donation of 
£25,000, together with other valuable privileges voted by the Corporation 
of Toronto in aid of the Railroad, were, to a great extent, the result of Mr. 
Capreol's perseverance in keeping the subject constantly before the public 
until, at last, an impression was made on the public opinion favorable to 
the undertaking. The fifteen thousand pounds stock, small as it is in 
amount, subscribed for by private individuals, was, nevertheless, obtained 
chiefly by means of Mr. Capreol's active personal canvass among our mer- 
chants and citizens; and the additional £35,000 loaned by the Corporation 
in order to make up the amount sufficient to claim the Government gua- 
rantee, was originated, pushed forward, and eventually secured through Mr. 
CapreoVs strenuous and well-timed exertions. 

" Mr. Capreol was further the active instrument whereby the Government 
guarantee of principal as well as interest, was at length secured to the Rail- 
road, and thus he mainly assisted in finally establishing what may truly be 
affirmed as the very key stone of the enterprise, and without which it must 
have fallen to the ground. 

" These essential points having thus been securely determined, Mr. Capreol, 
(ever anxious to see the work in practical forwardness) at his own co3t and 
risk, made various journeys to the United States, where, by his business 
habits and judicious management, he succeeded in effecting an arrangement 
with the present eminent and reliable contractors, by whom the work is 
now being actively carried onward. This arrangement is so favourable as 
regards the terms upon which the Railroad is to be completed in thorough 
working order, and the benefits to be thereby anticipated to all interests in 
the city are so great, that to have even prepared the way for such an ar- 
rangement (had Mr. Capreol rendered the work no other service) ought, 
alone, to entitle him to the gratitude of the community, and to any honours 
or rewards in the power of the Company to confer. At the trifling cost to 
the people of Toronto of only £15,000 stock subscribed by individuals, pay- 
able in five years, and £60,000 in Corporation Debentures, having twenty 



BAILEOADS. 215 

years to run, this city will have secured the completion of nearly one hun- 
dred miles of Railroad, connecting at Toronto, the great lakes — Ontario 
and Huron — passing through a rich and fertile country, the products of 
which must find their way to this city — and opening up the prospect of an 
immensely valuable traffic between the Atlantic sea-board, the mining re- 
gions of Lake Superior, and the " Far West " of the United States. 

" It may be confidently affirmed, that so great an amount of benefit was 
never, and possibly never will be again, conferred upon a community at so 
small an expense to them individually. Yet all these advantages {hardly in 
the present generation to be fully appreciated) Mr. Capreol has been mainly 
instrumental in realizing ! While, in addition to these great services ren- 
dered to the Northern Railroad in particular, Mr. Capreol's energetic ex- 
ample has, beyond doubt, given a powerful stimulus to Railway enterprize 
in other sections of the Province ; and he has thus rendered himself a bene- 
factor to the public at large. 

" The undersigned have now, as they conceive, fairly and dispassionately 
stated the effective and valuable services Mr. Capreol has performed on 
behalf of the Northern Railroad, and upon those services Mr. Capreol may, 
with becoming pride, rest his claims for consideration. But for his almost 
single handed exertions, untiring efforts, heavy outlay, enormous risk, and 
business energies, there would not at this moment have been in existence 
such a thing as a Northern Railroad under contract and in the course of 
active progress towards completion ; and, bearing in mind the sacrifices Mr. 
Capreol has made, the risks he has incurred and the anxieties he has en- 
dured, the undersigned cannot conceal from themselves, that being denied 
the honour (specially recommended by the General Committee) of taking a 
prominent part in the proceedings of the Jubilee (which he originated and 
planned) when, by the turning of the first sod under distinguished and 
flattering auspices, his anxieties and labours had reached a happy termi- 
nation, Mr. Capreol has sustained treatment he did not merit. And, in being 
further summarily and without any apparent intelligible cause, dismissed 
from the office of Manager and Treasurer, Mr. Capreol, they conceive, has 
sustained additional treatment he did not merit — and which public opi- 
nion requires should be promptly redressed. It may possibly be argued 
that, in granting to Mr. Capreol, under date of December, 1850, the Com- 
pany's Bonds at seven years, to the amount of £11,000, an adequate com- 
pensation has been made for his services. The undersigned must, however, 
demur to such an argument ; for, on the contrary, they do not hesitate to 
affirm, that this amount of bonds, payable at a remote period, and in the 
state of the Canadian market hardly convertible into money unless at a 
great discount, cannot reasonably be considered any thing more than a fair 
and very moderate equivalent for the outlay, risk, and time which Mr. 
Capreol devoted in accomplishing the results he had so triumphantly 
secured. While, in return for his other efficient services in forwarding the 



216 TOBOITTO. 

undertaking, the undersigned considered the permanent situation of paid 
Manager and Treasurer, would be no more than a reasonable compensa- 
tion, and no more than what Mr. Capreol had a just right to expect in an 
undertaking of which he was the fostering parent. The undersigned have 
no desire to enter upon the consideration of the particular causes of hosti- 
lity which have arisen between Mr. Capreol and any individual member 
of the direction, and upon which hostility, it is presumed, the unfortunate 
differences between Mr. Capreol and the Board of Directors are grounded. 
Nor are they prepared to deny that Mr. Capreol is of a sanguine, and 
therefore, hasty temperament. But they are nevertheless of opinion, that 
neither individual hostility on the one side, nor infirmity on the other, should 
or ought to be taken, as a justifiable reason why the Board, in its collective 
capacity, should eject Mr. Capreol from the high position in the Company 
to which his acknowledged labors, and meritorious services, had justly 
elevated him. 

The Northern Railroad being, to a great extent, as much, if not more, 
a public, than a private undertaking — the Government of the Province 
being largely concerned in its completion — the rate payers of this City 
being interested in its success to the amount of £60,000, and the present 
Board holding office but provisionally — it has been thought, that the inter- 
vention of public opinion to reconcile existing differences between Mr. 
Capreol and the Board, and thus prevent the growth of any obstacles that 
might impede the progress of the Railroad, is no more than what might 
reasonably be admitted by the Directors. 

The undersigned therefore, do most earnestly recommend, that all points 
in dispute and all matters at issue, between either the Board in general 
or any individual member thereof, and Mr. Capreol, should at once be 
referred to the arbitration of three influential but disinterested intelligent men, 
in whose impartial judgment the Board of Directors and the public at 
large onght to, and would, repose implicit confidence ; and they suggest 
that, Sir Allan MacNab, the President of the Toronto Board of Trade, and 
the Sheriff of the District, would be in every respect jit and proper persons 
to be such arbitrators ! Should Mr. Capreol be shown to be so far in the 
wrong as to have justified the Board in removing him from the responsible 
office of Manager and Treasurer of the Company, the undersigned have no 
desire to sustain him in that or any other wrong; but if it shall eventuate 
that nothing materially culpable can be sustained against Mr. Capreol, in 
the discharge of his official duty, then, his prompt reinstatement in office 
will naturally be expected to follow. 

John Cameron, R. Brewer, 

John Fisken, Hutchinson & Co., 

Alex. Ogilvie & Co., Thos. D. Harris, 

Shaw, Turnbull & Co., T. J. Fuller, 

John Ewart, Jr. & Co., J. R. Mountjoy, 



RAILED ADS. 



217 



W. F. Meudell, 
Walker <fe Hutchison, 
J. McMurricb, 
J. S. Playfair, 
Samuel Gunn, 
John Kay, 
M. Betley, 
Herbert Topping, 
H. Fowler, 
J. D. Didoufc, 
Gk P. Ridout, M.P.P., 
Joseph Beckett & Co., 
John Roaf, 
Alexander Murray, 
L. Moffatt, 
Arthur Cawthra, 
George A. Pyper, 
George Wightman, 
Robert Wightman, 
E. Bradburne, 
Robert P. Crooks, 
A. M. Clark, 
John Snarr, 
R. Beekman, 
Kivas Tully, 
Geo. Bilton, 
Geo. H. Cheney & Co., 
A. & S. Nordheimer, 

D. Paterson, 
George Thomas, Jr», 
Rice Lewis, 
Thomas Brunskill, 

E. <fc R. McPhail, 



Walter Macfarlane, 

Chas. Robertson, 

Hugh Miller, 

Wm. Henderson & Co., 

Brown <fe Childs, 

Wm. Atkinson, 

Wm. Gooderham, 

Burgess .& Leishman, 

James Crowbher, 

John Harrington, 

Thomas Haworth, 

John Ettrick, 

John Salt, 

H. Jackson, 

Adam Wilson, 

J. Harper, 

G-. A. Barber, 

J. Henderson, 

John Carr, 

D. Macdonell, 

Patton & Co., 

,B. Torrence, 

William Hallowell, M.D. 

R. Dempsey, Aid., 

J. W. Dempsey, 

,J. G. . Joseph, 

J. C. Collins, 

A. H. Coulson, 

Cary <fe Brown, 

Thomas Dick, 

Edward Shortis, 

W. M. Jamieson, 

:Gilmour & Coulsou. 



Read & Leith, 
Toronto, March 4th, 1852. 

P.S. — In further proof of Mr. Capreol's services, and of the value 
attached to them by gentlemen who retired from the original Direc- 
tion, we also publish the following letters addressed to Mr. Capreol, 
by parties whose standing in society, integrity, and intelligence, are 
too well known to need anything else to commend their opinions to 
public respect and confidence. 

(Copy of the Affidavit of Mr. Hibbert.) 

Bowmanville, Oct. 21, 185!. 
In justice to Mr. Capreol, I have no hesitation in stating that from the 

P 



218 TOEOTTTO. 

commencement of the undertaking of the Ontario, SImcoe, and Huron Union 
Railroad, he had found all the money necessary for maintaining its respec- 
tability and maturing the object; and that it was an understanding between 
the other gentlemen of the Direction and myself, that if he succeeded, he 
would be entitled to all the honour and credit attached to it, as well as any 
profit which might accrue, and that he offered the Direction to share with 
him the well deserved laurels he has, in my humble estimation, so justly 
earned, which they refused to run the risk of. I should not have left the 
Direction but for the unpleasant occurrences which so frequently took 
place in consequence of Mr. H. J. Boulton's conduct, which the whole 
Board are as well aware of as myself, if they would act as independently as 
I do upon this occasion ; and farther, it is my belief that the object in 
view would not have been accomplished but for the peculiar temper, con- 
stitution, energy, and able judgment of Mr. Capreol. 

JOHN HIBBERT. 
Sworn before me, this twenty -first of October, 1851. 

W. McMURTRY, J. P. 

{Copy of a Letter from J. Hibbert, Esq., to J. D. BidoxU, Esq.) 

Bowmanville, 27th October, 1851. 

My Dear Sir, — In consequence of the position in which I find my 
friend Capreol placed, in regard to the office he has held in the Ontario, 
Simcoe, and Huron Railroad Company, I have put down upon paper my 
views of the conditions upon which he was induced to proceed with the 
work, — and thinking the matter one of much importance, I have made 
affidavit of the same for fear of any accident which might deprive him of 
the benefit of my statement. 

As you were one of the Directors appointed in the Act of Incorporation, 
as well as myself, and for a long time took a warm interest in the concern, 
I have decided to enclose you a copy of my affidavit, and shall be much 
obliged if you will give me your opinion of its contents, and state what 
you know of the understanding with Mr. Capreol and the Board during the 
time you were a Director, particularly as to what passed at the Wellington 
Hotel, and that held at his own house immediately previous to his going 
to England. I feel assured you would, with myself, wish to see what is 
right between man and man, and on that account I am satisfied you will 
comply with my request as early as possible. 

Believe me, yours very truly, 

Jos. D. Ridout, Esq. JOHN HIBBERT. 

{Copy of Mr. Ridout' s letter in answer to Mr. Hibbert.) 

Toronto, 20th October 1851. 
John Hibbert, Esq., 

Dear Sir, — I have received your favour of the 27th, enclosing a state- 
ment of circumstances connected with Mr. Capreol, and requesting me to 



RAILBOADS. 219 

give you my opinion thereon, etc. ; and although I cannot see in what 
manner it will be useful, I know of no reason why I should not acknowledge 
that what you have thought it proper to record is agreeable to my under- 
standing and belief of the facts as far as I have had an opportunity of 
judging, which does not, of course, include what might have occurred with 
Mr. Boulton after I left the Board. 

Mr. Capreol was the only person that I ever knew to provide for the 
large cost attending the undertaking, and I remember that about the time 
of the formation of the Company, he repeatedly expressed his desire that 
Some one or more of the Directors would help him to find the funds need 
ful to prosecute it, and no one being willing, it was agreed by all, that Mr. 
C, finding all the money, and performing all the real labour, would be en- 
titled to whatever honour might accrue to any person concerned in the 
affair. And I am not aware that either of the important measures by 
which the work has been brought to its promising condition, were ever 
propounded or in any valuable degree obtained by any one but him. 

"Under the discouragement of an extensive opposition, and various hos- 
tile influences that would have broken the spirit of almost any other man, 
and beyond the countenance of his associate Directors, favoured by no ad- 
vantages that did not belong to him personally, he has proceeded success- 
fully, step by step, till the important object of his exertions may be said to 
be secured. 

He obtained the Charter from the Provincial Parliament by much out- 
lay, and five months' attendance at the capital, Montreal. 

He obtained the Royal assent to the same by a journey to England. 

He obtained the £25,000 donation from the Corporation of Toronto by 
his constant appeals and forcible representations to that body. 

He projected and induced the meeting, which finally succeeded in induc- 
ing the loan of £35,000 from the Corporation. 

He produced, by his intercourse with the people of Simcoe, that favor- 
able feeling which ended in a vote of the County Council for debentures to 
the amount of £50,000. 

He suggested the application whieh resulted in the Legislature granting 
the principal sum for one half the cost of the road, instead of a guarantee 
for the interest only. 

He procured nearly all the subscriptions that have been made to the 
work, and having done these things by his own means, diligence, per. 
severance, and capacity, it appears to me that he had a reasonable right 
to expect, that except for criminal misconduct, he would not have been dis- 
placed from his position of Manager. 

I remain, dear Sir, yours truly, 

J, G, RIDOUT. 



220 TOEONTO. 

{Copy of a letter from John Cameron to Mr. Capreol.) 

Toronto, November 8, 1851. 

My Dear Sir, — I have much pleasure in saying that I have ever looked 
upon you as the sole originator of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Union 
Railroad scheme, and that but for your indomitable exertions, and at your 
private expense, and unremitting labors, the scheme would not at this 
time have reached its present point of reality. 

I believe, further, that to you is the Company mainly indebted for the 
several very advantageous and pecuniary aids and subscriptions which it 
enjoys. In your progress for the attainment of your object, I have had 
occasion to see much of you, and I have noticed with admiration the ability 
and promptitude with which you overcame the difficulties presenting them- 
selves, and many of which were sufficient to unnerve the stoutest, 

I had, therefore, anxiously hoped that you would have been permitted 
to enjoy that honor and profit which your position in the Company offered 
you, and which certainly your exertions merited. 

I am, yours very truly, 

To F. C. Capreol, Esq. JOHN" CAMERON. 

{Copy of a letter from Hon. Mr. Justice Burns to Mr. Capreol.) 

Toronto, 20th December, 1851. 
F. C. Capreol, Esq. 

Dear Sir, — I see no reason that my present position should prevent my 
complying with your request — to state the terms upon which it was 
understood you forwarded the project of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron 
Railway, though I have ceased to be one of the Committee. 

From the time I first took any part in the transaction, preparatory to the 
Act and the regular formation of the Board or Committee of gentlemen 
named originally in the Act of Charter, I always understood that the 
necessary means required to bring the Company into active operation 
were to be furnished by and through yourself, and that you were to be 
entitled to the credit of success, if success should be the result. 

I was elected the first Chairman of the Committee under the Act of 
Parliament, and so long as I presided, it was clearly and distinctly under- 
stood, stated and acted upou by all the members of the Committee who 
attended, that you were to bear all expenses in bringing the work to a 
successful initiation for practical operations, and that to yourself should 
belong the whole credit for so doing. 

I had always felt a strong interest in seeing such a work undertaken on 
the proposed route, and was willing to lend what assistance I could, but I 
always felt that if the project succeeded it would not be owing to any 
exertions either of my own or of the other members of the Committee, 
but that it was to be attributed to yourself — the others rendering but 
little assistance. 

I have every reason to believe that every member of the Committee 



BAILBOADS. 221 

who attended our meetings until I resigned entertained the same thoughts 
I myself did, and as I have above expressed myself. 

I remain, your obedient servant, 

ROBERT E. BURNS. 

It is unnecessary to say that all these appeals were made in vain. 

The contract for the construction of the Road was signed on the 
24th Dec. , 1850, and the line from Toronto to Barrie, 63 miles, was 
opened in 1853 ; from Toronto to Aurora, 30 miles, 16th May ; 
Toronto to Bradford on the 13th June ; and Toronto to Barrie on 
the 11th October, 1853. The line from Barrie to Collingwood was 
opened on the 2nd January, 1855. The length of the Road is a little 
over 95 miles, served by 24 stations, with an equipment of 17 loco- 
motives and 297 cars. 

The total capital of the Company is $4,382,239 .00 

Paid-up Stock 823,530. 50 

Government Lien 2,311,666. 67 

Mortgage Bonds 252,066 . 66 

Company's Bonds 993,966.67 

The income of .the year 1857 was : — 

Through freight traffic $5,130.06 

Do passenger traffic 122.25 

Local freight 154,244.96 

Do passenger traffic 127,124.12 

Mail service 10,340.00 

Storage 2,258.81 

All other sources 14,021 .66 

$313,291.83 
Total expenditure for the year 249,695 . 54 

Showing a balance of income of $63,596 . 29 

Number of tons of freight carried during the year : — 

North 17,933 

South 48,014 

Total 65,937 

Of this quantity there were 7,792^ tons of wheat and 6,606 tons 
of flour brought south. 

The Grand Trunk Railway. — This is a Provincial undertaking, 
substantially built, although at great expense to the Province. From 
Toronto westward the line is admirably laid out, and beautifully 
finished. Eastward, personal or local interests or engineering diffi- 



222 TOBONTO. 

ctilties seem to have intervened. The entire length of the line when 
the River St. Lawrence is spanned at Montreal, will be 1,026 miles, 
comprising the following sections : — 

Montreal to Portland 292 miles. 

Richmond to Point Levi, (opposite Quebec) and to St. 

Thomas 144 " 

Montreal to Toronto 334 " 

Toronto to Stratford 90 " 

St. Mary's to London 23 " 

St. Thomas to Riviere du Loup. 72 * 

The Victoria Bridge is a massive magnificent work, and unequalled 
in the triumphs of engineering. It is expected to be finished during 
the early part of 1860, and will cost over £1,250,000. The iron 
tubes or superstructure will rest on 24 piers and two abutments, all 
built of large massive blocks of limestone, taperd off to prevent the 
ice lodging against them. The centre span is 330 feet, and the 12 
spans on each side of the centre 242 feet each. The extreme length, 
including abutments, will be 7,000 feet ; from bank to bank 10,284 
feet. The height above summer water level in the centre will be 60 
feet. The tubes through which the trains will pass are 22 feet high 
by 16 feet wide in the centre, sloping down to a height of 19 feet at 
each extremity. The contents of the masonry is estimated at 
3,000,000 cubic feet ; the weight of the iron tubes 8,000 tons. 

The original capital of the Company was £9,500,000, but this was 
found inadequate, and it was determined to increase it to 
£12,900,000 sterling. Of this sum the Province has an interest, in 
the form of a guarantee, to the amount of £3,111,500 sterling, the 
interest of which it has resolved to meet until the shareholders 
realize six per cent. The terminus of the Grand Trunk in Toronto 
is at the foot of York Street, where arrangements have -recently 
been made for the accommodation of all the three railroads, forming 
what is known as the Union Terminus. The average running time 
between Toronto and Montreal is about eleven hours ; Montreal to 
Portland, ten hours ; Montreal to Quebec, five hours. The Com- 
pany have completed arrangements whereby passengers and goods 
can be booked through from all points in Europe to any place along 
the lines of the Grand Trunk and Great Western Railways. The 
line from Toronto to Montreal was opened on the 27th October, 1855 
and a large demonstration took place in Montreal, forming altogether 
the most enthusiastic display the ancient capital has witnessed. The 
line from Toronto west to Guelph, sixty-three miles, was opened 
on the 1st July, 1850. 



BAILBOADS. 



223 



Statement of No. of Tons of Freight received at and forwarded from 
Toronto, year ending 31st December, 1857. 





Received. 


Forwarded. 


Total. 


Don Station, East 


Tons. 
8122£ 
591i 


Tons. 

92601 

50461 


Tons. 

173801 

56371 


do West 








S714 


14306f 


23020| 


Queen's Wharf Station, East ....... 

do do West 


2432| 
26565* 


9700f 
115911 


121331 
38157 




289981 


212921 


502901 


Total 


377121 


35599 


733111 





Statement shewing the number of Passengers, inwards and outwards, at 
Toronto Station, for the vear 1857. 



Districts. 


Inwards. 


Outwards. 


Total. 


Eastern 


647211 
45155 


475431 
362971 


112265 


Western 


814521 







Return of Cars on Grand Trunk Railway. 

79 First Class Passenger Cars. 

51 Second 

30 Post Office and Express Cars. 

32 Baggage Cars. 

1063 Covered Freight Cars. 

1068 Platform " M 

51 Cattle Cars. 

32 Brake Vans. 

133 Ballast Waggons. 

34 Snow Ploughs. 

In addition to these there are 201 Locomotive Engines. 

Toronto astd Hamilton Railway. — This is simply a branch of 
the Great Western Railway, forming a line of thirty-eight miles. It 
was opened with great spirit, gentlemen from all quarters having 
been invited to Toronto to the demonstration. There are four 
passenger trains each way daily on this line. The accounts are not 



224 TOBONTO. 

kept separately, so that I have not been able to present any state- 
ment of the Toronto branch. The main line is 229 miles in length, 
from Niagara Falls to Windsor. 



SECTION XIV.— PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR 
LOCATIONS. 

The Streets. — The names of the principal Streets are those of 
most of our English cities. Thns we have King, Queen, Adelaide, 
Nelson, Wellington, Richmond, Victoria, Albert, Louisa, &c, <fcc, 
brought into daily remembrance, — a circumstance which conveys to> 
the stranger an idea of the English character of the city. The 
Streets are laid out with much regularity, — wide, and well provided 
with sidewalks. In former times the site of the city was finely un- 
dulated, presenting here and there a mimic ravine ; but as each new 
street is opened out, it is graded to the level of the streets with 
which it joins, forming nearly a water level from east to west, and 
rising in a gradually inclined plane to 135 feet above the level of the 
Bay at Bloor Street. The very beautiful map which has been en- 
graved by Mr. Ellis expressly for this work will show the arrange- 
ment, names, and relative positions of the streets. It will be seen 
that Yonge Street, the great leading thoroughfare to the north, di- 
vides the city into two grand divisions, East and West, and forms 
the central line of divergence for many of the streets leading east 
and west. Yonge Street runs nearly due north from the Bay to 
Holland Landing, a distance of over 30 miles. 

Front Street skirts the Bay from the Garrison on the west, to the 
City Hall on the east, where it forms a gore or triangular corner at 
its junction with Wellington Street. Its continuation "eastward 
takes the name of Palace Street. Starting north on Yonge Street 
from the line of Front Street, the following streets occur in the 
order enumerated, — Wellington, Colborne, Melinda, King, Adelaide, 
Temperance, Richmond, and Queen Streets. King and Queen are 
the only ones that traverse the entire length of the city, the others 
terminate at various points east and west. 

Above Queen Street, and still parallel to it are Albert, west ; 
Shuter, east ; Louisa and Alice, west ; Crookshank, east ; Agnes 
and Edward, west ; Gould, east ; Edward and Elm, west ; Gerrard, 
Hayter, College Avenue, Grenville, Grosvenor, Breadalbane, Clover 
Hill, Albany, west ; Gerrard, Magill, Ann, Carlton, Maitland, 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIE LOCATIONS. 225 

Wellesley, Gloucester, Isabella, Charles, east ; and Bloor, east and 
west. 

The principal Streets running north are : on the east, Church, 
Nelson and Jarvis, George, Caroline, Ontario, Berkeley, and Par- 
liament : on the west, Bay, York, Simcoe and William, John, Peter, 
Brock, and Spadina Avenue, and Bathurst. For intervening streets 
we refer to the map. 

Excursion. — Having given the names and leadings of the princi- 
pal streets, we proceed in company with the stranger to visit the 
more permanent public buildings located on them, — noting the pro- 
minent features by the way. Starting east from the foot of Yonge 
Street, we reach the gore formed by the junction of Front and 
Wellington Streets, which is appropriated as a City Wood Market, 
and where during winter large numbers of waggons and sleighs are 
constantly to be seen laden with wood brought from several miles 
distant. The wood is sold by the cord of 128 feet ; but the market 
cord seldom averages more than 90 feet, and there being no law of 
the Corporation, further than to collect a few coppers of market 
dues, the people have no recourse, but take what is brought to them. 
There are in this vicinity several Yards where wood and coal can be 
purchased, and although at a higher price, it is believed to be cheaper 
in the end. The scarcity and dearness of choice hard wood has 
caused a greater demand for coal of late, and as families are getting 
more into the way of using coal, the demand for wood will lessen 
considerably. On the left of the Wood Market we pass the City 
Baths, kept by Mr. Wright, who is also a most expert barber and 
hairdresser. These Baths are extremely comfortable and convenient, 
and can be obtained hot or cold at any time. They are pretty well 
supported. Passing eastwards we reach on the right 

THE CITY HALL, 

The head quarters of the Corporation. This building shows a front- 
age of 140 feet, and is built partly of stone and partly of brick. It 
has been very much improved in appearance of late. The basement 
of the centre building is used as Police Station No. 1. A flight of 
steps in a portico leads to the principal entrance. A circular stair 
from the right and left of the entrance hall leads to the City Hall on 
the 2nd floor, where the meetings of the City Council are held. 
The corridor on the right leads to the offices of the Mayor, the 
Clerk and his assistants ; on the left it leads to the offices of the 
Chamberlain, the General Inspector of Licenses, the City Engineer, 
and the Board of Works. On each side of the main entrance an 



226 TORONTO. 

archway leads to the fruit, vegetable, and poultry Market, — a quad- 
rangle conveniently fitted up with stalls, and partially covered, afford- 
ing the market gardener protection in all kinds of weather. There 
is extensive cellarage underneath for their convenience, and a larg& 
ice-house for the preservation of their merchandize during the sum- 
mer months. A flight of steps in the rear leads to the yard, in 
which the carts with the more bulky roots are usually found, and 
from which the cellars are entered. In rear of this building, and 
near the water's edge, stands the Fish Market, where is usually 
found a tolerably abundant supply of the fish afforded by the waters 
of Ontario. Here salmon trout, white fish, bass, maskinonge, 
pike, perch, herrings, eels, and sundry other varieties, and not un- 
frequently an occasional sturgeon may be obtained. The prices are 
somewhat arbitrary, depending pretty much on the supply for the 
day. Returning again to the street, and proceeding eastwards, we 
come to 

THE WEIGH HOUSE, 

Where all kinds of farm produce are weighed for purchasers by the 
City officer. At this point we enter on Palace Street. On the 
right hand are seen several steam mills for sawing and planing lum- 
ber, for grinding wheat, and for other mechanical operations. On 
the left we pass the original Government House. 



From which the Street takes its name, the primitive residence of the 
earlier representative of Royalty. It is a plain, low, frame build- 
ing, of most unpretending proportions and architecture, — one of the 
antiquities of a city little more than 20 years old. Further on we 
pass the villa of the late Hon. Dr. Widmer, the father of the medi- 
cal profession in Toronto, who was a fine specimen of the gentle- 
manly and active Army Surgeon. His skill, attention, and success, 
obtained for him a wide spread reputation. He was honored with a 
seat in the Legislative Council, and having practised his profession 
in Toronto, in the palmy days of "agues and intermittent fevers," 
deservedly realized for himself an honorable independence. On the 
right, and midway between Berkeley Street and Parliament Street is 



THE COUNTY JAIL, 

A substantial, gloomy-looking prison, built of grey limestone, from 
designs of J. G. Howard, — for sometime City Architect. It is 
constructed upon what is termed the radial principle, which has 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIB LOCATIONS. 227 

been found to afford great facilities of supervision to the jailer, whose 
residence forms the central culminating point of three wings. Two 
of the wings only are built as yet, and although admirably managed 
by the present superior officer, G. L. Allen, they are totally 
inadequate for the purpose of a classification of prisoners, — a want 
which has been times without number the subject of presentment 
by the grand juries of the county, and of comment by visitors, as 
the juvenile offender is seen herding with those hardened in crime, 
and deadened to every sense of improvement, save in villany. In 
other respects the building is well constructed and arranged. It is 
airy and well ventilated, and at the same time very secure. The 
prisoners consigned to hard labour, are variously employed in occu- 
pations which are a source of revenue to the institution. The City 
has advertised for tenders for a new jail to be built on the Scadding 
Farm elsewhere alluded to. The designs have been prepared by 
William Thomas, Architect. Immediately opposite to the jail en- 
trance is 

ST. LAWRENCE FOUNDRY, 

Commenced by Mr. W. Hamilton about six years ago, as a Stove 
Foundry ; but for several years it was chiefly occupied with rail- 
way castings — car wheels, pedestals, &e. A large number of men are 
employed in making patterns, turning, moulding and finishing ; 
persons desirous of seeing the process of casting may have an oppor- 
tunity of doing so any afternoon about half past three o'clock, as 
they cast every day. The work is superintended principally by a 
son of the proprietor. All the pillars, girders and other iron work 
for the Crystal Palace, were cast at this foundry. A little East from 
the jail, and on the same side of the street 

THE NEW CITY GAS WORKS 

Are located. These works are very extensive, and have been con- 
structed on the most improved principles, altogether regardless of 
expense. The area enclosed by the buildings is three acres, and the 
estimate for the works completed was £35,000. The original plan 
shows two Retort Houses ; only one however is for the present 
constructed, as the supply from that one will meet the demands of 
the City, after it much increases its present size. The coal sheds 
are of brick, one 110 feet by 28 feet, and capable of containing 1500 
tons of coal, fronting on Palace street ; the other 170 feet by 60 
feet and capable of containing 5000 tons. Immediately in rear is 
t&e Retort House 134 feet by 53 feet and 22 feet high. Thirty 



228 TOBOFTO. 

benches are at present constructed, each bench containing three retorts 
The scrubber or gas-washer is 18 feet high and 5 feet diameter. The 
tar- well is 21 feet by 10 feet, and is capable of containing 10,500 
gallons of coal tar. The purifying house is 48 feet by 36 feet, with 
a roof of wrought iron covered with slate. It contains four dry lime 
purifiers, 16 feet by 10, made of cast iron, and bolted together in sec- 
tions, and capable of purifying 600,000 cubic feet of gas in 24 hours- 
The Meter House — next in order, is 32 feet by 20 feet, supplied with 
a Station Meter capable of registering 300,000 cubic feet of gas in 
24 hours. The two tanks for the Gasholders are 102 feet in dia- 
meter by 21 feet 8 inches deep, each built of good hard brick laid in 
hydraulic cement, and coped with freestone. The gasholders are 
100 feet diameter and 21 feet deep, and will hold 165,000 cubic feet 
of gas each. The connecting pipes are 12 inches in diameter. The 
coke shed is 32 feet by 36 feet set upon six-inch cast iron pipes, and 
covered with coal tar and gravel. It is unnecessary to be more 
minute in our description of these important works, as our object is 
simply to aid the visitor in his explorations, not by any means to 
render these explorations unnecessary by minutely detailed descrip- 
tion. Immediately opposite the Gas Works on Palace street, there 
is a large Ice depot belonging to a Joint Stock Company — for sup- 
plying the City with Ice in summer. In the distance lakewards on 
the edge of the Bay is seen 

THE OLD WIND MILL, 

A piece of mechanism, which in the days when steam was not in 
Canada, was a source of revenue to its enterprizing owner ; by 
grinding the wheat of the settlers into flour. It is not so used now. 
Old Eolus has been supplanted, and has disappeared with the rude 
denizens of the forest over which he presided. The mill is at pre- 
sent driven by steam, and in connexion with it there is a distillery, 
worked by the same proprietor — ,Mr. Aid. Gooderham — which runs 
off, at an average, about 700 gallons of raw grain spirits daily. 
Immediately East from the Wind Mill there are four large cow sheds, 
filled with cows fed chiefly from the swill of the distillery, conducted 
under the street to the cow troughs by means of drains. East from 
this and upon the same parallel, the works of the Grand Trunk 
Railway are located. These works cover a large area, and have 
immediate connexion with the Bay by a wharf. 

In this neighborhood there are several limekilns, and brick and 
tile works liberally patronized by the builders in the City. At the 
corner of King and Trinity streets, is situated 



PTTBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIB LOCATIONS. 229 

TRINITY CHURCH, 

Familiarly known by the soubriquet of Little Trinity. The Rev. 
R. A. Sanson is the present incumbent. This is an unpretending 
spurious gothic red brick edifice, built after a design of H. B. Lane, 
by the enterprising builder Mr. Ritchey. The corner stone was laid 
in May, 1843, and the Church was opened for divine service in nina 
months thereafter. It originally gave accommodation to about three 
hundred persons ; but the addition of a gallery and an improved 
internal arrangement from designs by Kivas Tully, Architect, have 
added considerably to the accommodation. The organ is the gift 
of Joseph Lee. The sittings in the area of the Church are free. 
Immediately adjoining the Church there is a very neat parochial 
school house, erected at the expense of Enoch Turner, and by him 
presented to the Church. Proceeding Eastwards we reach 

THE RIVER DON. 

Without seeing anything worthy of special notice. There is an exten- 
sive Tannery on the banks of this stream, indicated by an abundant 
display of horns fantastically fastened to the gables, as well as by 
that peculiar odour which always accompanies works of this kind. 
The Don is a pleasant looking stream, rather sluggish, and said to be 
very aguish. Its meandering course from the interior is skirted by 
elms and other trees, and is in some places very romantic. Lake- 
wards it expands into a delta, discharging itself into the Bay by two 
mouths, called, respectively the Big Don and the Little Don. 
Across these mouths bridges were erected in 1834 by the Ordnance 
Department, to connect the peninsula with the City. In 1835 during 
the Mayoralty of the late R. B. Sullivan, these Bridges were trans- 
ferred with due formality to the Mayor and Corporation of the City 
by the late Sir Richard Bonnycastle, then commanding the Royal 
Engineers in this district. The particulars of this transfer are care- 
fully treasured up in the archives of the Corporation. The Mayor, 
dressed in his red cloak, — which was then the badge of civic honour, 
— accompanied by the Common Council, and a number of citizens, 
proceeded from the City Hall in state to the first bridge. Here 
their progress was obstructed by a temporary barricade, and the 
sentry demanded, who dared to pass that way 1 The answer was im- 
mediately reported, and Major Bonnycastle advanced, and seeing 
the Mayor and his followers — said 

WORSHIPFUL SIR, 

"I am commanded by His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor to 
present to the Mayor and Corporation of the City of Toronto, these 



230 TORONTO. 

two new Bridges over the forks of the Don River, which have been 
erected for the benefit of the inhabitants, that they may in all time 
to come, be enabled to enjoy the salubrious air of the peninsula ; — 
requiring only in return that the Bridges be free of toll for ever to 
the troops, stores and ordnance of His Majesty." 

The Mayor made a more elaborate reply, in one part of which he 
says — 

" In behalf of the Common Council and of the citizens, I beg you to 
convey to His Excellency, the grateful feelings with which this new 
instance of the bounty of our most Gracious Sovereign is received ; 
and take this occasion, on behalf of the city, to renew our assurance 
of loyalty and attachment to His Majesty's person and Government, 
and pray through His Excellency a continuance of royal favour 
towards this city." 

The opening ceremony having been gone through with a sort of 
Mimic Temple Bar formality, the Mayor and Corporation proceeded 
to the Hotel, then erected on the Island, and having enjoyed a com- 
fortable luncheon they returned by the ferry boat which at that time 
plied between the Island and the shore. From some unexplained 
cause, the Bridges thus ceremoniously opened, have been allowed to 
go to decay, and at present no access can be had to the peninsula 
except by water conveyance. In the arrangement for the Esplanade, 
one Bridge to cross the Big Don is provided for, and as this one will 
lead only to the triangular portion of the marsh formed by the two 
mouths of the River, little doubt can be entertained that another 
Bridge, to cross the Little Don, will shortly be constructed. By 
this means the pleasing drive of which the citizens have been so long 
deprived, will be restored. 

Eastward from the Don an aguish marsh extends a considerable 
distance along the margin of the Lake. It is the scene of many a 
hard day's good shooting, ducks of every variety, snipe, plover and 
cock, — being plentiful. There is a very substantial, though rude 
looking, 

BRIDGE ACROSS THE DON, 

On the line of Palace Street erected to supply the place of an old 
one, which was carried away by a "freshet" in the spring of 1850, — 
a calamity which brought destruction to many a bridge and mill 
dam throughout the township, and broke up the roads in many 
places to such a dgree as to render them dangerous for travellers. 
About two miles onward on the Kingston Road, is Mr. Lesslie's 
garden and Nursery, a spot well worthy a special visit. On the way 
thither, we pass on the right, 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 231 

TORONTO RACE COURSE 

A circular course of about a mile, with stand, betting booth, weighing 
room, starting and winning posts, and all the attendant parapher- 
nalia of an Anglo-Canadian Hippodrome. This kind of sport has 
gone out of vogue, lately ; but some years ago, good horses were 
brought on the ground, and the races were well conducted. Mr. 
Lesslie's gardens are very extensive, he is a successful horticulturist, 
and annually sends to all parts of the province, large numbers of 
choice fruit trees, and ornamental trees and shrubs of every variety, 
native and exotic. His terms are moderate, and he seldom dis- 
appoints his patrons, either as to variety or the health and vigour 
of his saplings. He is an expert and industrious engrafter, and pur- 
sues his avocation with a tolerable share of scientific aptitude. An 
inspection of his hot house and herbarium will amply repay the 
trouble of a walk thither, and one of his fragrant bouquets will 
refresh the visitor on his homeward route. 

Having once more passed the Rubicon of the Don we turn up 
River Street on the right to Winchester Street, the old plank road, 
which running eastwards descends by an easy slope to the river, here 
crossed by a narrow wooden bridge. Instead, however, of crossing by 
the Bridge, let us turn to the left in front of the Don Vale House, 
through Mr. Ward's property, where, striking on a footpath or trail 
we reach by a very romantic course, the spot selected by Governor 
Simcoe, the first Governor of Canada, as the site of his residence. 
At this distant day we can form but a very imperfect idea of the 
wild romantic grandeur of this locality, ere yet the axe of the wood- 
man had cleared it of its majestic pines, for in those days — 

" A man was famous and was had 
In estimation. 
According as he lifted up 

His axe thick trees upon."* 

But even yet there is much that is attractive and picturesque 
about the grounds of Castle Frank. The mazy windings of the Don, 
as it silently meanders through the luxuriant flats which form its 
summer and autumn banks, bordered here and there on each side by 
high, romantic hills, crowned with trees of all forms and sizes, from 
the slender but firmly knit ironwood to the majestic primeval pine, 
and displaying all the varied tints natural to their foliage ; — the 
various elevations and forms of the hills, and the diversity of fight 
and shade thus produced, afford a series of views which delight the 
artist and the admirer of the beautiful in nature. But we must not 



Old Psalter. 



232 TOEONTO. 

linger here, pleasant though it be to gaze upon the kaleidoscopic 
variety of the scenery. Returning to the summit of the slope on 
the old plank road, the tall white fence of 

THE TORONTO NECROPOLIS 

Meets the view on the right. This cemetery, laid out a few years 
ago by three of our city merchants, comprises a plot of rolling 
ground fifteen acres in extent, stretching from Sumac Street on 
the west to the banks of the Don, and from the plank road to the 
old Castle Frank road on the north. In the centre of the grounds 
is a very neatly constructed mausoleum or vault, for the reception 
of the dead, and where, during winter, when the ground is imper- 
vious to the mattock, they are kept for a considerable time. There 
is also a residence for the Superintendent within the enclosure. 

This is a pleasant spot for a Necropolis. On the one hand it over- 
looks the picturesque scenery of the Don, and is on the other suffi- 
ciently distant from the crowded city to be secluded from its busy 
hum. Hither may the mourner lonely wend, to drop a silent tear 
over the dust of the dear departed, or strew fresh flowers around 
the narrow house. Here, too, the visitor may profitably spend a 
silent hour. The cemetery has recently passed into the hands of 
the Trustees of the Toronto General Burying Ground, commonly 
called Potter's Fteld, a place now comprised within the Municipality 
of Yorkville, and interdicted as a burying ground. North of this, 
and bounded by Parliament Street on the west, is 

st. james's cemetery, 

Comprising sixty-five acres of rolling ground, and tastefully laid out, 
under the superintendence of Mr. J. G. Howard, architect. It 
contains some very good specimens of sculpture. There is a receiv- 
ing vault or mausoleum in the centre of the grounds. There is also 
a residence for the Superintendent and a room for the officiating 
clergyman. The cemetery is in connexion with St. James's Cathe- 
dral, and under the superintendence of its clergymen and church- 
wardens. Nearly opposite to the Necropolis, and bounded on the 
south and west by Don and Sumac Streets, 

THE NEW GENERAL HOSPITAL, 

A stately building of the old English domestic style of the 15th cen- 
tury, raises its majestic towers. The site is high, airy, dry and 
healthy, being about eighty feet above the level of the bay. The 
building, — located in an enclosure of four acres, occupies a quad- 
rangnlar space of 170 feet by 120 feet, in the fomi of a hollow 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 233 

square, with a projecting portion in the centre, to the north, resem- 
bling in the ground plan a mammoth figure E. The basement is 
occupied by kitchens, sculleries, servants' apartments, and stores. 
The first floor is approached by a flight of stone steps, ten feet long, 
leading to a spacious entrance hall, twenty-two feet by twenty-three 
feet, on one side of which is the Board-room, thirty-three feet by 
twenty-one feet, and on the other a suite of waiting, examining and 
consulting rooms. Immediately beyond, a magnificent corridor, 
twelve feet wide, extends the entire length of the building. In the 
centre of the building are two large wards, thirty-three feet by 
twenty-two feet, for extreme surgical cases, with bath-rooms, 
closets, and other conveniences exclusively attached. The apart- 
ments of the House Surgeon, and several private wards, occupy the 
east end of the first floor, while the dispensary and offices, and 
apartments of the stewards and nurses, occupy the west end. 
Ample stairs, twenty-two feet wide, lead to the second and third 
floors, which are divided into wards, the larger of which are thirty- 
three feet by twenty-one feet, — arranged to contain twelve patients ; 
the smaller are arranged to contain eight patients each. These 
wards are so constructed that several in each story can be shut off 
from direct communication with the main building. These floors 
contain also commodious sitting-rooms for convalescents and for 
nurses, as well as baths, water-closets, &c. On the west end there 
are roomy balconies approached from the corridors. There are in 
the building twelve baths and twenty-seven water-closets. The 
upper story of the central tower contains an apartment twenty-four 
feet square, for a museum, opening into an extensive gallery, 
twenty-four feet by 160 feet, within the roof. In the tipper part of 
the towers at the front angles of the building the reservoirs for the 
general supply of water to the establishment are placed. The 
theatre, thirty-seven feet by forty-five feet, is in the central projec- 
tion of the building, and is approached from the main stairs ; it is 
semicircular in the rear, and is lighted principally from the roof. 
The mortuary is immediately under the theatre. In each corridor 
there are two hydrants, with hose and the necessary apparatus for 
protection against fire. Considerable attention has been paid to the 
ventilation of the entire building, and the plan devised by the Archi- 
tect is not only simple, but likely, we should think, to accomplish 
the end aimed at. The ceilings of the corridors, which, as already 
stated, extend the whole length of the building, are lowered two 
feet below the level of the room ceilings. The spaces thus cut off form 
flues sixty feet long, twelve feet wide, and nearly two feet deep, 

Q 



234 TOBONTO. 

terminating in large vertical shafts, which open out at the roof of 
the building. Each apartment and ward has an opening near its 
ceiling into the flues, for the purpose of drawing off the impure air, 
which is conveyed by the shafts to the external air at the top of the 
towers. A current of fresh air is admitted by openings in the walls 
near the ground, and conveyed by separate air-ducts along the flues 
and into smaller channels between the joists, and enters each apart- 
ment by valvular orifices in the floors. In the winter the current 
of fresh air, in its course through the building, is brought into con- 
tact with the surface of pipes heated by hot water and hot air, and 
is exhausted by means of openings near the floors, communicating 
with the large flues, the openings near the ceilings being intended 
chiefly for summer use. The central tower is about 100 feet high, 
and commands a most magnificent view of the surrounding country. 
The grounds were laid out under the superintendence of the late Mr. 
Mundie, one of our most successful landscape gardeners. 

Descending from Sumac Street to Queen Street, we turn to the 
left into Power Street, for the purpose of looking at 

st. Paul's (Roman Catholic) church, 

A plain but commodious brick building, with nothing remarkable in 
its appearance or architecture ; but it is one of the antiquities of 
the place, being amongst the first places of worship erected in it, 
and for a long time served every purpose of those who worshipped 
there, until increasing numbers induced the erection of St. Michael's, 
which will be noticed in due course. Immediately adjoining St. 
Paul's, an extensive building has been partly erected by the Roman 
Catholics, under the title of 

THE HOUSE OF PROVIDENCE. 

It is intended as an Orphan's Home, an Hospital for the sick and 
infirm, a temporary refuge for the poor emigrants belonging to that 
body, and a home for the aged. The main building, fronting on 
Power Street, independently of out-houses, porter-lodges, etc., will 
when completed, extend over an area of 220 feet in front, by 140 
feet deep. The ground plan is like an elongated letter H, but broken 
up by various projections, both for convenience and effect. The 
roofage forms a conspicuous feature in the design. The treatment 
of this, — too often concealed architectural covering, — is singularly 
bold and effective, representing somewhat the style of the French 
roofs of the early part of the 16th century — sharp and truncated, 
terminating in a crest-railing, or tall branching, with corner stand- 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIB, LOCATIONS. 235 

ards, and gilt vanes. Full clusters of chimney stacks, small turret 
roofs and dormer gables, give considerable variety to the outline. 
The other architectural details are more or less of French character. 
Several projecting oriels and porches enrich and beautify the exterior 
wall surface, more however, by their boldness and simplicity of de- 
tail, than by any pretensions to individual ornamentation, as all 
meretricious enrichment seems to have been carefully avoided. 

The main entrance is in the centre of the facade, fronting on 
Power Street, and is approached by a flight of stone steps — between 
massive parapets, — leading to a spacious Hall, 23 ft. by 64 ft. , with 
an apsidal termination, lighted by three large triple-light windows. 
Part of this hall is partitioned off by a moveable screen and is to be 
used as a refectory, — the entire hall, by removing the screen, being 
available for the same purpose. The apsidal — or semi-octagon — form 
of the East end of the hall, is carried up to the eave of the main 
building, three stories high, and forms the appropriate termination 
of the chapel, which is immediately over the hall. On the left side 
of the hall, is the main staircase, within a lofty arcade, behind which 
is the Medical Dispensary, with a convenient entrance within the 
staircase. A corridor 200 feet long by ten feet wide, with staircases 
at the extremities, divides the main building equally in the centre, 
and near the ends of this corridor are two others, each 110 feet long, 
running at right angles to the main corridor, and giving access to 
the various apartments in the wings. On one side of the hall, on 
the ground floor of the main building, are two rooms, each 33 feet 
by 18 feet for poor emigrants ; besides two or three private rooms of 
smaller dimensions. On the other side of the hall is a community 
room, 25 feet by 18 feet, a waiting-room of the same size, and two 
wards, 33 feet by 18 feet each, for orphans. The two wings on this 
floor are each divided into six good-sized private rooms, for sick or 
infirm patients, with large sitting and dining rooms. The corridors 
of the wings are separated from those of the main building by folding 
doors, and have private entrances from the exterior. The arrange- 
ments of the second floor are precisely similar to those of the first. 
Entering off the corridors of the main building, are the sick wards on 
each side of the chapel — which divides the building in the middle — 
and on the other side are convenient rooms for the aged and infirm 
inmates of the Institution. In the wings are private wards for the 
sick, and sitting rooms, similar to those on the ground floor. The 
chapel is on the second floor, and is entered from an upper hall at 
the stair landing, from which it is separated by solid piers and arches, 
filled in with light open screen-work. The chapel is lighted from 



236 TORONTO. 

three large windows of middle-pointed design, of three compartments 
each, with traceried heads, and intended to be filled with stained 
glass. The roof is of open timber- work of simple construction, con- 
sisting of principals, with arched ribs, resting on stone corbels, braced 
purlins and jack rafters, all exposed to view, and of pine timber — 
stained. The chapel extends in height through three storeys of the 
building. One end of it is open to the corridors of each of these 
storeys, — which thus form large galleries to the chapel, and afford 
the inmates of each floor an opportunity of joining in the services 
without requiring to descend the stairs. It is proposed to fit up the 
chapel in a handsome manner, with low benches, and other appro- 
priate ecclesiastical furniture. The third storey and attics, are exclu- 
sively fitted up as dormitories. A calefactory of the most improved 
description will distribute warmth through the entire building ; but 
independently of this there is an open fire-place in each room. Due 
attention has also been paid to ventilation. The basement accom- 
modation is necessarily limited to a few small cellars for storing 
meat and vegetables ; the drainage of that part of the city being yet 
incomplete. Ample provision in baths and wash-rooms is made, and 
for security against fire, hydrants will be erected in each corridor. 
There will be a variety of out-buildings in connexion with the insti- 
tution, including a porter's lodge, a detached kitchen, a gymnasium, 
and recreation sheds for the children, and other conveniences. The 
Institution will be under the care of the Sisters of the Novitiate of St. 
Vincent de Paul. This extensive building, which when completed, 
will add very materially to the appearance of the East end of the 
city, was constructed from designs by William Hay, architect. 

Returning westward, and still keeping on Queen Street, we pass, 
McMahon Cottage, the residence of S. Ridout, and Moss Park, 
the patriarchal residence of the late Hon. William Allan. The 
delightful and romantic grounds of Moss Park were frequently thrown 
open to the public by the grace and courtesy of their present pro- 
prietor, G. W. Allan, — while he held the position of Mayor of 
the city of Toronto — the worthy representative and successor of the 
worthy patriarch already named. In order to enhance the pleasure 
of such a perambulation, an instrumental band was provided for the 
occasion by the proprietor to cheer the citizens while they were 
strolling through his grounds. Here too, on the lawn in rear of the 
Old Mansion, the members of the City Corporation, the represen- 
tatives of the various National Societies, and a number of the most 
prominent citizens, enjoyed a splendid banquet on the anniversary 
of Her Majesty's 36th birthday, and at the expense of the generous 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THJEIR LOCATIONS. 237 

host, drank oceans of champagne to Her Majesty's health, and to 
the health of all mankind — themselves alone excepted. Moss Park 
is bounded on the West by George Street, up which we propose 
immediately to turn ; but passing down first, a little to the left, we 
reach Duke Street, at the upper corner of winch is situated 

THE BANK OP UPPER CANADA. 

The oldest banking institution in Toronto, and occupying the 
oldest bank building in the City. The main body of the edifice 
is a substantial structure of cut stone said to have been designed by 
the late Hon. Dr. Baldwin at a remote date, ere yet the little town 
boasted of Architects "cunning in their craft." It is nevertheless 
a fair evidence of what good sense can accomplish even in cases 
requiring skill and art. It has been recently enlarged by the addi- 
tion of a wing of white brick, built as uniformly as the nature of the 
material would permit, yet giving it a one sided heterogeneous look, 
if the term is admissible. It has doubtless proved, if not an orna- 
mental addition, at least a very useful one, and much required from 
the increase of business hi that institution and the consequent neces- 
sity for a larger staff of officials. Nearly opposite, on George street is 

THE SAVINGS' BANK. 

An excellent and prosperous institution under the able management 
of C. Scadding. It lends money only on security of real estate-situated 
in the County of York, with the proviso of a first lien. Proceeding 
eastwards we pass on the right what was known as George street 
Free Church, an old wooden building occupied at one time by the 
Unitarian Congregation and sold by them to what is known as the 
Irish Free Congregation, which worshipped here until their new 
Church was erected. Passing on the left several neat brick houses 
owned by Mr. Snarr, builder, we reach 

WILTON CRESCENT 

On the right, formed a few years ago by the proprietor of Moss Park, 
extending with a bold curve East to Sherbourne street. In the 
centre of this noble Crescent a new street, called Pembroke street, 
has been opened, leading north to Gerrard street, and several houses 
of stately dimensions have sprung up to enliven the scene. On the 
South-west corner of Pembroke street, the Canadian Institute has a 
very fine building lot 150 feet in front by 138 feet deep, which we 
trust will shortly be occupied by a structure in keeping with the 
ornamental character of the locality, and adapted for the various 



238 TORONTO. 

purposes of the Institution. This lot was very handsomely presented 
to the Institute, by Mr. Allan, who takes a deep interest in its pro- 
gress. The mere money value of the gift will be appreciated by 
those who know the price of land in that locality. The Institute 
has for the present found a local habitation in hired apartments in 
York chambers opposite to the Post Office. North of Gerrard street 
a ten acre lot is opened out for private residences. The intention of 
the proprietor is to make a carriage drive through the centre of this 
plot, leading from the line of Pembroke street to Carlton street, and 
having a large circus in the centre, the interior of which is to be 
planted with shrubbery, enclosed with a tasteful railing, and relieved 
and ornamented with statuary, vases, and other decorations in sculp- 
ture. The entire park is divided into eight lots, four on each side ; 
thus leaving a commodious space for horticultural embellishment ; 
and when the drive with its interior decorations is completed, it will 
form by far the pleasantest part of the city. Proceeding along Gerrard 
street to the West, we reach Jarvis street, which has filled up very 
rapidly, and now presents a double row of magnificent villas, some 
of them of large proportions and expensively furnished. 

Although Jarvis street stretches in a line from Bloor street to the 
Bay, it changes its name to Nelson street, where it intersects Queen 
street, and changes also its imposing appearance. There are cer- 
tainly some good houses in Nelson street, but they are of a different 
character from those to the North. There is nothing very noticeable 
in this street if we except the fact, that two well known characters 
reside in it. In a large plain old fashioned block resides Mr. James 
Beaty, proprietor of the Leader Newspaper. A little further down 
is the residence and business place of Mr. John Nasmith, whose fancy 
biscuits, sent to the French exposition, so pleased the Emperor of 
the French that Mr. Nasmith has been declared the prince of biscuit 
bakers. At the north-east corner of Nelson street let us pause to 
survey 

ST. LAWRENCE HALL 

A substantial and elegant building in the Italian style of architecture, 
and decidedly one of the ornaments of the City ; although, abutting 
abruptly as it does upon the street, its architectural beauties are hid 
from the passer by. This pile of buildings, so much admired for the 
harmony of its proportions, was erected on the site of the old City Hall 
from the designs and under the superintendence of William Thomas 
Architect, whose high professional talent and correct taste have 
tended greatly to the embellishment and improvement of tins fine 
City. The principal front of the structure is on King street, and is 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIB LOCATIONS. 239 

composed of a tetrastyle portico of engaged fluted columns, as a 
centre, supporting a well proportioned pediment, the tympanum of 
which is enriched with sculpture, the order being continued through- 
out the entire frontage of one hundred and fifty feet by 12 pilasters 
and ornamented entablature. The order is from the example of 
the three remaining columns, &c., of the Temple of Jupiter Sfcator 
at Rome. The pilasters having greater projection of a tetrastyle 
distribution as wings to the facade. There are two shops on each 
side of the centre part of the building with handsome carved and 
moulded peers, on the ground floor, sustaining rich entablatures 
with balconies to the first floor windows. A centre archway with 
highly ornamented bronzed iron gates leads to an arcade of shops, 
the portico being raised on massive moulded and rusticated piers, 
and having the opening between them covered by semicircular and 
segmental arches, having archivolts and key stones sculptured with 
fine colossal heads of three imaginary or symbolical river deities, of 
St. Lawrence, Niagara, and Ontario. The spandrils between the 
arches are sculptured in high relief entwined with wreaths of in- 
digenous flowers and fruits, with symbolical insignia of Justice, Fame, 
Commerce, Power, Union, and Victory. Over the piers rise pedestals 
of the order, between which, in the intercolumniations are balconies 
with well proportioned balustrades. 

The principal order embraces two storeys in height, the windows 
on the first floor decorated with pilasters and cornices, and on the 
second storey with architraves. The decorations are continued on 
the east and west flanks of the building, 75 feet in depth, with pil- 
asters of the principal order at the angles, and with enriched cornice 
and modillions combined throughout, surmounted with carved acro- 
terise and circular headed enriched windows on a Mansard or French 
roof. 

The sculpture of the pediment consists of the City Arms, with a 
figure of Britannia and an Indian with bow and quiver as support- 
ers, coupled with the Royal Arms of England. The effect of this 
facade in the latter part of a fine summer day is remarkably pleasing, 
being richly diversified with the sparkling lights on its rich and ap- 
propriate sculpture and carved work. The central pediment is sur- 
mounted by an attic with semi-circular headed windows, with moulded 
architraves, and keystones sculptured with heads of Music and 
Mirth. The parapet is enriched with foliated guilloche pedestals 
and acroteria, — the central ornament being the Lyre of Apollo, en- 
riched with foliage, behind which rises from the roof an octagonal 
rustic vase, with windows, supporting a cupola or dome 17 feet in 



240 TOEONTO. 

diameter, circular and peripteral, with 12 Corinthian columns, and 
consoled cornice with arched openings to the enclosed part. In the 
cupola there is a bell of 2,130 pounds weight, and the City clock, 
the faces of which are to the four cardinal points. The whole is 
terminated by a small cupola and flag staff, the height to the top of 
the cupola being 120 feet. 

The principal staircase leads by a spacious corridor to several 
Committee and Retiring Rooms on the first floor, and to the St. 
Lawrence Hall, with supper rooms, on the second floor. 

The Hall is 100 feet long, 38 feet 6 inches wide, and 36 feet high, 
with a gallery at the entrance end, under which is a reception or 
refreshment room. The ceiling of the Hall is ornamented by flat 
hemispherical, enriched pannelled, domed compartments, and lyres 
surrounding them. The side walls have pilasters and bold consoled 
cornice, with a large cove continued round the hall, terminating on 
the ceiling with a rich guilloche band. The ceiling of this hall has 
recently been decorated with some of the most grotesque looking 
figures perhaps ever witnessed, — yet when the large and mag- 
nificent chandelier is lighted up, and when the room is filled by 
such an assembly as that which graced Jenny Lind's concerts, it has 
a brilliant and most imposing effect. It is admirably adapted for 
concerts, being easily filled by the voice, and having no echo to mar 
the performance, and is in fact the only place in the city for lectures 
and fashionable concerts. The arcade in the rear is occupied as the 
Butcher Market, having shops on each side, each shop having also a 
communication with the squares, leading from East and West Mar- 
ket Streets, respectively, occupied by farmers with their dairy and 
other produce. 

Opposite to the St. Lawrence buildings, there is a substantial 
range of lofty stores, raised upon the ruins of a row of less stately 
dimensions, desolated by a destructive fire in 1847, which laid waste 
a large portion of the city, and amongst other buildings, St. James' 
Church, now replaced by what is termed 

st. james's cathedral, 

Opposite to which we may now be supposed to stand. This massive 
structure is built of white brick, with stone mouldings and facings, 
and erected from designs by F. W. Cumberland, and under his 
superintendence. It is in the early English style of the middle of 
the 13th century. It consists of a nave and aisles, with large flank 
porches, giving the effect externally of low transepts, an effect 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 241 

which it could have been wished were realized in its internal ar- 
rangement. In the aisles are triple light windows of the lancet 
kind, ornamented externally with slender shafts and hood mouldings. 
The windows of the clerestory have also triple lights of lancet shape, 
deeply splayed outside, and having columns with foliated capitals 
within. The north end, where the chancel is situated, is apsidal, 
with heavy projecting buttresses. On the external angles between 
the buttresses are richly ornamented windows ; the centre or chancel 
window being triple light, with monials of clustered columns having 
foliated capitals supporting the arched and traceried head. The 
roof is of open timber work, of a very florid and elegant design. It 
has attic beam with brackets, filled in with perpendicular tracery en- 
riched with quatrefoils, partaking of the character of the roofs of 
the 15th century. The entrance from King Street is through a 
richly ornamented double doorway with pointed cusped arches, and 
quatrefoil compartments over the centre pier, the whole included 
within a large deeply recessed pointed arch, ornamented with suites 
of mouldings. The usual Orientation of English Ecclesiastical 
buildings is in this instance departed from, the chancel being in the 
north end. We presume the local peculiarities of the site will be 
pleaded as an excuse. It is constructed for 1, 120 sittings in the area, 
and 560 in the galleries, exclusive of free sittings. The most attrac- 
tive feature of the building, as shown in the original designs, is its 
massive tower, showing an elevation of 275 feet. But a deficiency 
in the exchequer has stopped this ornament at its base, and at pre- 
sent we have only the music of the large bell, 3,004 lbs. weight, to 
inspire the hope of "a good time coming." Immediately in rear 
of the Cathedral, on Church Street, is 

st. james's school house, 

designed by the same architect. It is an ornament to the street, 
but is somewhat disfigured by a very disproportionate bell tower, of 
certainly an antediluvian style. On the left hand is the old building 
which for many years was the scene of forensic encounter — the 
County Court Hall ; but it is now eclipsed by a new Court House, 
which we shall come to by and by, and is divided off into offices of 
various sorts. North from this, in the centre of a block of plain 
brick buildings, is the Bank of Toronto, recently established. 
Immediately beyond is 

st. Andrew's church, 

On the corner of Adelaide and Church Streets. This is the " Kirk ■ 
of Toronto, a plain, unpretending building, attended by those who 



242 TOEONTO. 

adhere to the established religion of Scotland, and under the pastoral 
charge of the Rev. Dr. John Barclay. At the angle of forty-five 
from St. Andrew's Church stands 

THE NEW MECHANICS' INSTITUTE. 

This building has two fronts of nearly equal architectural impor- 
tance. That on Church Street consists of a centre of slight projection, 
the base of which comprises the ground storey, with central door 
and circular-headed sidelights, with stone imposts, archivolts and 
keystones. Upon this base the centre, entirely of stone, is designed, 
with four composite pilasters, having an enriched cornice with 
pierced parapet and central tablet, the whole covered by stone 
jermimals. The windows on each side of the centre are grouped in 
heights, and are finished with pilasters, double cornices, and other 
decorative features. The Adelaide Street facade is in general keep- 
ing with that of Church Street, the main difference being that the 
former possesses, in addition to the projecting centre, two wings in 
advance of the main frontage line. On the Adelaide Street front 
the composite pilasters, four in number, are repeated with some 
little alterations of detail. The Music Hall, which occupies the 
height of both upper floors on the Church Street front, has, on the 
Adelaide Street front, three bold windows having imposts, with 
enriched capitals and cornices. A combination of the florid, or 
decorative, with the substantial, seems to have been the aim of the 
architect, and in carrying out his design he has given the building 
an imposing and stately appearance. The designs are by F. W. 
Cumberland, and carried oat under his superintendence. The 
lecture-room, fifty-one feet by forty-two, is intended to be semi- 
circular, entered from the ground floor, and seated like the gallery 
of a class-room, gradually descending until they reach the -basement 
level in the centre. The reading-room, thirty-six feet by twenty- 
four, and the library, thirty-one feet by twenty-four, are both to be 
on the ground floor. The music hall, approached by two spacious 
stairs, will be 76^ feet by fifty-six feet, and from thirty to forty feet 
high, capable of seating upwards of a thousand persons comfortably. 
Offices, refreshment and supper rooms are in the design, and are 
intended to be carried out, but meantime Government has a four 
years lease of the building, and have it fitted up to accommodate 
the Officers of the Crown Lands Department and Post Office, — the 
Government buildings being so small that they were unable to 
afford the necessary accommodation. They agreed to leave it, at the 
end of the four years, finished according to the original designs of 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIB, LOCATIONS. 243 

the architect, and free of debt. Proceeding along Adelaide Street 
to the west, and immediately adjoining the Kirk, we reach 

THE NEW COURT HOUSE, 

Where the Courts of the united Counties of York and Peel are held, 
This is a massive and substantial Roman Doric building executed 
with an apparent economy which is scarcely in keeping with the 
decorated style of public buildings generally adopted in the City. 
The facade is three stories in height composed of projecting centre 
with wings, occupying a frontage of 152 feet. The centre is 
divided by four massive Roman pilasters with corresponding base 
and capitals, supporting a bold cornice. The windows have impost 
pilasters with architraves and cornices, the whole executed in Ohio 
stone. The wings have each three windows in width. The lower 
storey having simple architraves, while those of the two superior 
storeys are grouped within one outline, finished with pediments. 
The main portion of the wings are executed in white brick, the stone 
being introduced, however, in all the dressings, cornices and other de- 
corative features. A main central door, with enriched composite pilas- 
ters and pediment, leads by a spacious vestibule to the County Coun- 
cil chamber, immediately in the rear, and to the principal offices 
connected with County affairs, by wide corridors leading from the 
vestibule. On the left are the offices of the Sheriff and Deputy 
Sheriff : — The Division Court office and County Court office. On the 
right "are, the office of the Treasurer of the County, the office of the 
Clerk of the Peace, the Warden, and the Clerk of the County Council. 
Spacious stairs on each side, lead to the Court of Assize, the Recorder's 
Court, and the Division Court, with the necessary rooms for the 
accommodation of the grand and petit juries, the jury, barristers 
and witnesses. The interior arrangements of the Assize Court room 
have not given so much satisfaction as was anticipated, the barris- 
ters finding themselves crowded up into a small space, while neither 
desks nor seats have been provided for the Daily Press. This 
inattention to the Fourth estate contrasts strikingly with the ample 
provision for the press in most of the English Law Courts. Some 
improvement will shortly be effected on this head I have no doubt. 
This building, like the St. Lawrence Hall, is pretty much hid in 
consequence of its abutting so closely upon the street. It was 
built from designs by F. W. Cumberland. Adjoining the Court 
House is the 

ADELAIDE STREET WESLEYAN CHAPEL, 

A plain, substantial brick edifice, seated to accommodate about 800 



244 TOEOffTO. 

persons. Here the Revd. Dr. Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Edu- 
cation for Upper Canada, used occasionally to officiate. The stated 
pastor is the Revd. James Spencer, editor of the Christian Guardian. 
Turning to the left round the corner of the Wesleyan Church we 
enter Toronto Street, a short, but very important street, running from 
Adelaide street to King street and parallel with Church street. 
This street, formerly celebrated only as the location of the old Jail, 
has become within a few years one of the most important in the City. 
On the west side, about midway to King street stands 

THE NEW POST OFFICE, 

A very fine specimen of Grecian architecture. It is a chaste and 
elegant building, with a Greek Ionic front of free stone, with massive 
fluted columns supporting a bold entablature, on which is cut in 
alto relievo the words POST OFFICE. The whole surmounted by 
the Royal Arms, very boldly and neatly sculptured. The building 
occupies a lot 54 feet in front by 98 feet in depth, and stands 
detached, having a carriage way all round. The public hall is 44 
feet by 18 feet, paved with large flagstones from Ogdensburgh. It 
has two entrances from Toronto street, and is lighted by windows at 
the ends and in the front. The front of it consisted of eighteen large 
squares of plate glass, neatly fastened in brass sashes and originally 
extended the entire length of the Hall. In consquence of the grow- 
ing demand for accommodation, however, the south end of the Hall 
has recently been fitted up with pigeon holes similar to those in 
front. The whole front and end are now divided into 1149 pigeon 
holes, or private boxes, — for which a charge of 7s. 6d. a year is 
made, and into which all letters for the parties occupying boxes are 
kept and delivered when called for. There are also beneath these 
four tiers of drawers, in all 210, for banks and other public 
establishments and for the press. The locks of these drawers 
are all different, so that the keys do not pass with each other, 
thus affording security as well as convenience. They are accessi- 
ble at all times of the day from 7 a. m. to 7 p. m. without 
interfering in any way with the Post Office officials. The numbers 
on the boxes are large and distinct, and are so attached that they are 
withdrawn with the boxes, when it is necessary to clean the inside 
of the glass plates. The front is divided into three compartments 
by two massive looking Doric columns, in each of which is a brass- 
sheathed opening, into which letters for despatch are dropped. 
Above the box tiers there is a row of narrow plate glass panes set in 
light brass sashes, and in the centre is a neat double dialled 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 245 

clock, by which the movements of the office are regulated. There 
are three wickets in front, and one in the end for the delivery 
of money letters, and where the book in which they are registered 
lies for the signatures of parties who receive letters marked l ' money" 
the one at the left hand is for the receipt of unpaid letters, the one 
on the right for the delivery of letters from what is called the 
" alphabatical letter box" into which letters, marked " to be called 
for" and those sent to parties, who have no box, or are not known, 
are put, and given out when asked for ; a list of this class of letters 
is kept constantly posted up in the Hall and renewed at stated 
periods. 

In the rear of the public department, is the Postmaster's room, 
part of which is now devoted to the Money Order Office, and ap- 
proached from the main private entrance on the south side of the 
building. In rear of the main building is the sorting room, a one 
storey appendage, lighted from the roof by a large central lantern. 
The rear end of this attachment is semi-circular, and is neatly divi- 
ded into pigeon holes, with large sliding doors in front, so as to 
secure their contents at night. It is also supplied with sealing 
pedestals, sorting tables, and every convenience for the despatch of 
business. The basement is appropriated as a residence for the porter 
and messenger, and for the furnace and fuel rooms. The first floor, 
approached by spacious stairs from the private entrance on the south 
end, is occupied by the Post Office Inspector and his assistants, etc. 
It contains six excellent rooms, a substantial vault, a bath room and 
water closets. The whole building is heated by one of Chilson's Hot 
Air Furnaces, and is well lighted with gas, and supplied with an 
abundance of water, having hydrants on each floor, with a sufficient 
quantity of hose pipe and branches to pour a copious stream of water 
into every room at a moment's notice. This very commodious 
edifice was from designs by Messrs. Cumberland and Storm, and 
erected under their superintendence. The pathway in front is laid 
with large flagstones, also from Ogdensburgh. Four large ornament- 
ed lamps have been erected in front of the building, which, when 
lighted up, present a very lively appearance. The stranger will be 
much gratified by a visit to the Post-Office. The Postmaster is one 
of the most obliging gentlemen in the city. Immediately North of 
the Post Office is 

THE MASONIC HALL, 

A handsome ornamental pile, recently erected by the Messrs. 
Nordheimers, Music Sellers. It has a frontage of 102 feet by 75 in 



246 TOBOffTO. 

depth, and is four storeys in height with an additional storey in the 
central portion. The lower storeys are occupied by shops, with 
fronts formed by cast iron columns, having boxes for wrought iron 
shutters, and cast iron window sashes glazed with large English 
plate glass. The upper part of the front is faced with Ohio free- 
stone, richly carved and ornamented. The elevation is very lofty 
measuring 72 feet from the ground to the cornice of the central 
portion of the building. 

There are five shops on ground storey with safe and good cellars 
underneath. The coal vaults and water closets are under the side 
walk, and the main entrance is near the centre of the building. 

The main stair 9 feet wide leads up to a 10 feet corridor running 
through the whole length of the building dividing the first storey 
into 10 double offices. There is a flight of stairs at each end of 
the corridor leading to the second storey, which is arranged similar 
to the first storey. 

The Masonic Halls occupy the whole of the upper storey and con- 
sist of principal Hall, 73 feet by 42 feet, 24 feet in height, a Chapter 
room 42 feet by 20 feet, a Hall for encampment of Knights Templar 
50 feet by 23 feet and 19 feet in height, having also an armoury 
attached, a supper room 38 feet by 20 feet with convenient ante- 
rooms, and cloak rooms. 

There is a Safe for the jewels of the Masonic Lodge. Tanks are 
placed under the roofs to supply the washtands and hydrants. There 
are various out buildings for the convenience of the upper offices. 
The wing is laid out as a dwelling for the house keeper. The roofs 
are covered with tin and protected by lightning rods. 

The style of the building is called by the Architect " the Modern 
Munich," and we are told that he purposely avoided all heavy 
projections on the front to avoid the effects of heavy rain or 
frost. The most of the carving is consequently sunk or fretted in 
the stone for the same reason. The building was erected from de- 
signs by Wm. Kauffmann — and under his superintendence. It was 
finished on the 1st of May, 1858. 

The Masonic Halls are fitted up internally in a magnificent stjde 
and with great taste, the central hall is for the accommodation of 
St. Andrews', St. Johns', and Ionic Lodges. The old furniture of 
St. Andrew's lodge has been refitted and arranged with many taste- 
ful additions by Messrs. Cumberland & Storm. The principal object 
of attraction in the lodge is a gorgeous Corona-lucis, designed by Wil- 
liam Hay, Architect, the brass work manufactured by Thomson, 
Keith <fe Co. , and the polycromic painting by Todd. It consists 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND TBZEIR LOCATIONS. 247 

of a tiara of septefoliated rings or bands, the lower one is 6 feet 6 
inches diameter bearing seven twisted shafts with three branches on 
each, with gas jets at the extremities. The second band bears seven 
similar shafts with single jets, the bands have an edging or brattish- 
ing of the trefoil and the ivy emblamatical of Faith and Constancy. 
They are also ornamented with texts of Scripture in old English char- 
acter richly illuminated, such as " God said let there be light and there 
was light. " ' ' The light shineth in darkness and the darkness compre- 
hendethit not," " Faith, Hope, and Charity," " Truth, Wisdom, 
Temperance, Chastity, &c." The whole forms a most imposing 
pyramid or cone of delicate tracery, dazzling with light, gold and 
colour. 

The chapter room is fitted up with new furniture, appropriately 
arranged from designs of Mr. Hay. The room is divided into two 
compartments by a screen 9 feet high with an arch in the centre, 
and panelled with crimson damask. This screen is continued entirely 
around the walls of the room forming the principal compartment, 
and has carved cornice enriched with colour and gilding. The room 
of the principal compartment is that of an elongated catenarian arch, 
with Thrones for the three principals at the apex and stalls, and seats 
for the Companions round the sides and base. The carpet is a 
rich Brussels, of the same pattern and similar manufacture as that in 
the Library of the British House of Lords. Over the Thrones is a 
canopy of crimson with pale blue lining surmounted by a crown. 
Round the sides are various banners and other blazonry of the order. 

The Hall of the Geoffrey De St. Aldemar Encampment of the 
Royal Exalted Religions and Military Order of Masonic Knights 
Templar, is refitted with the original furniture of the encampmen 
formerly in the old Masonic Temple, Russel's Hotel, which was vei 
gorgeous and appropriate, and acknowledged to be the best fitted up 
Hall of the Order either on this continent or in Europe. The fur- 
niture alone cost some seven hundred pounds, a large sum when it 
is considered that the Knights at whose cost it was, do not number 
over twenty individuals. 

The room is arranged like the choir of a cathedral, with stalls 
surmounted by canopies for the Knights, their arms emblazoned on 
shields on the panel of the stall. There is a throne in one end sur- 
mounted by a gorgeous canopy for the Eminent Commander, also 
various other chairs or thrones with canopies carved and decorated 
with pinnacles and finials, giving to the whole aspect a remarkable 
ecclesiastical effect, to which the display of banners, among which 
figures the famous "beauseant," and sundry pieces of armour add 



248 TOEONTO. 

somewhat of a military character. The Maltese Cross and the fleur- 
de-lis are prominent among the decorative ornaments. There is an 
armory fitted up with Wardrobes for each of the patires, used also 
as an ante-room. 

THE GAS COMPANY'S OFFICE, 

A large, commodious, and elegantly finished building, with cut 
stone front, where the business of the " Consumers' Gas Company," 
is transacted, stands nearly opposite the Masonic Hall And imme- 
diately north is the 

COUNTY REGISTRY OFFICE, 

A small dull-looking, fireproof building — and, on the south side, 
where once stood the Old Jail, there is now a handsome block, four 
storeys in height, with highly ornamented cut stone front, and 
known as 

YORK CHAMBERS. 

This block comprises on the ground floor three stores with large plate 
glass windows, protected by cast iron revolving shutters, and having 
rusticated piers supporting a bold entablature, enriched with carved 
consoles. The style of this building is Italian-Frenchified, — or mo- 
dernized so as to be more attractive. There is a uniformity of 
frontage throughout which gives great breadth and effect without 
monotony, as the details are varied in character. The extent of 
frontage is 76 feet, and the depth 93 feet. In the front there are 
nine compartments, with richly moulded pilasters, semi-circular 
arches, arcMvolts and keystones, sculptured with symbols of Com- 
merce, flowers and fruits, <fcc. The windows throughout have rich 
dressings, and are surmounted by a bold, effective cornice, with me- 
dallion blocks. Upon the centre is raised an attic with" segmental 
arched windows, panelled pedestals and shell acroteria. The Ame- 
cican Express, and Messrs. Whitney, wheat and flour merchants, 
occupy part of the building. The north flank, 92 feet in depth, as 
already stated, facing Court Street, is finished in red brick, with cut 
stone dressings. It has a central entrance with bold pilasters and 
pediment, leading to York Chambers, a range of Attorney's Offices, 
and by a wide public staircase to the temporary rooms of the Cana- 
dian Institute, the Library of wliich is open every day for the con- 
venience of the public from 3 o'clock. The roof is flat and is covered 
with Warren's Patent Felt Fire-proof Roofing, wliich, from its 
commanding height forms an excellent terrace from wliich to view the 
surrounding city and the Bay. This building was erected from the 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 249 

designs and ander the superintendence of W. Thomas, and has tended 
very much to enrich the appearance of Toronto Street. There are 
still a few vacant lots in this street, to the North of the Post Office, 
but we have no doubt that ere long they will be occupied by build- 
ings in keeping with those recently completed. Immediately south 
of the Post-Office, there is a massive brick building, the part of 
which is occupied by E. F. Whittemore & Co., as 

AN EXCHANGE OFFICE, 

Where drafts on New York, Boston, Buffalo and Montreal, may 
be obtained, and foreign money exchanged for current coin. This 
Company are also agents for several very reliable Insurance Offices. 
The opposite corner is occupied as a hardware store by Mr, Pice 
Lewis, and has become famous in consequence of the immense pad- 
lock which stands at the corner of the street as a sign to passers-by. 
We have now reached King Street at nearly its most fashionable 
part. In the elegant shops the stranger will see displayed every ob- 
ject which can attract the eye or please the most fastidious taste, 
and between the hours of three and six in the afternoon, this street 
will be found to be the resort and the fashionable promenade of the 
beau monde of Toronto. Nearly opposite to the foot of Toronto 
Street is what is known as the old Post Office Lane, an opening 
between Eastwood, Woodall <fe Co's School Book Store and the 
Leader Buildings, which afforded to the King Street merchants a 
convenient route to the Post Office, when that public Institution was 
located on Wellington Street. It is now the thoroughfare to the 
Toronto Exchange, erected on the site of the old Post Office. Turn- 
ing to the left on King Street as far as Church Street, let us turn 
down Church Street in order to proceed by Wellington Street to the 
spot from which we started at the commencement of our excursion. 
At the foot of the Old Post Office Lane stands 

THE TORONTO EXCHANGE, 

A handsome new building erected for the accommodation of an Asso- 
ciation of Merchants, Millers and Business men. This Association 
was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1854, in order to afford 
faculties for the transaction of the mercantile business of the city of 
Toronto and of the surrounding country, capital £12,500, divided 
into 1000 shares of £12 10s each. Not unlike the London merchants 
prior to the days of Gresham, our merchants were accustomed to 
meet in any public resort that offered itself for the transaction of 
their business ; until the want of some central place of meeting be- 



250 TOBONTO. 

came so generally felt by the increased resources of the city, that a 
number of business men met in March 1854, in the office of one of 
the produce brokers, and appointed a committee to take steps to 
organize an Exchange Association. This in time was effected, ,and 
to the success of the movement, or perhaps the energy of its earliest 
promoters, we have this very fine building, the foundation stone of 
which was laid with civic honours — His Worship the then Mayor, 
G. W. Allan, officiating on the occasion — on the 20th of March, 
1855. 

The facade is three storeys, with a basement extending on Welling- 
ton street 54 feet and on Berczy street 140 feet. The main entrance 
is from Wellington street by a flight of steps, in a recessed Grecian 
Doric portico to a Hall or landing communicating on each side with 
rooms designed for Telegraph offices, being accessible at all hours 
without interfering with the main building. From this Hall you 
enter a spacious corridor 130 feet long and 12 feet wide and 15 feet 
high, communicating with a line of offices on each side. At a dis- 
tance of 12 feet from the entrance are two grand staircases, one on 
each side> which lead directly to the upper corridor and reading- 
room — a spacious apartment 50 feet long by 20 feet wide, well 
lighted by seven large windows on Wellington and Berczy streets. 
At a distance of 10 feet from the main entrance on Wellington 
street, is an attached portico of two stories — the lower of which is of 
the Doric order, and the upper of the Ionic. The centre of this 
portico has a principal entrance, 12 feet wide, into the corridor, and 
on either side inferior entrance to the basements and refreshment 
rooms. From this principal entrance there are two flights of steps 
of 24 feet wide, leading directly to the upper corridor before men- 
tioned, merchants' exchange room, millers' association rooms, bro- 
kers' offices, committee room, and eight private offices. The " Ex- 
change" is 50 feet by 30, of an oval form, by a height of about 40 ft. , 
and lighted by a circular ornamental glass dome. From this floor 
there are three staircases leading to the corridor on the second floor ; 
the arrangement of private offices on this floor being similar to that 
of the first floor. At the north end of the corridor is the entrance 
to a handsome gallery surrounding the inner wall of the ''Exchange," 
and communicating therefrom with private offices, committee rooms, 
and a suite of rooms set apart for the meetings of the Board of Trade. 
The basement is approached by four entrances, — two on Wellington 
street, and two on Berczy street. The public portions of the build- 
ing are heated by furnaces ; and each corridor has two hj^drants and 
hose, which in case of fire, can be attached, and brought to bear 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 251 

•upon any part of the building. Each office has a fire proof vault. 
The building covers an area of nearly 8000 superficial feet, is com- 
posed with a rusticated basement, 20 feet high, on each side of the 
portico, supporting the cornice, which is surmounted by Ionic pilas- 
ters and entablature, finished on the top by a balustrade, the piers 
at each end with ornamented vases, and the centre with the Royal 
Arms. The Commercial News Room on the second floor is well sup- 
plied with papers and periodicals. 

The cost of the structure was somewhere about £11, 500, the site 
£2,700. By the act of incorporation the capital of the Exchange 
is fixed at £12,500 divided into shares of £12 10s. each. James 
Brown is Secretary and Treasurer of the Company, and E "Wiman 
is Superintendent of the building and its internal arrangements. 



We have now nearly reached the point from which we started — 
having made the circuit of the Eastern portion of the City. We 
shall now proceed up Yonge Street, noting a few of the more promi- 
nent public buildings in passing. On the right hand as we proceed 
north, at the corner of Colborne street is the wholesale warehouse of 

ROSS MITCHELL AND CO., 

The following short description of which I wrote very soon after 
its completion. It was designed and constructed under the superin- 
tendence of William Thomas — and it is pleasing to observe that he 
has combined very considerable beauty of decoration with a proper 
consideration of the use for which the building is to be put, and the 
utmost convenience in the arrangement. He has proved that it is 
possible to have much that is graceful and elegant, and at the same 
time not out of character, in a commercial building. The front on 
Yonge Street is very imposing, thirty-six feet in width and four storeys 
high, the lower story being of substantial piers of Hamilton stone 
and the upper of the Ohio stone, which is easily worked, of good 
colour, and very durable. The style is Italian, with arched 
windows, the keystones being enriched with ornaments symbolical 
of Commerce, other parts of the front being ornamented with 
wreaths of the leaf of the oak, the thistle, and the maple. The whole 
effect is very striking, considerably heightened as it is, by large 
squares of beautiful English plate plass, of which the windows are 
composed. The side view of the building, on Colborne street, is also 
very fine. It is ninety-six feet in depth, of white brick, with cut 
stone dressings. The interior is admirably adapted, in its arrange- 
ment, for the purpose designed, — the conveniences for the receipt 



252 TOEONTO. 

and delivery, and for the conveyance of goods to different parts of 
the building, are excellent, and the laying in department is as com- 
plete as long experience and sound judgement could make it. At 
the main entrance is the counting-room, with private offices and 
safe ; further in, the receiving-room for goods, and at the rear 
the packing-room and place of exit. On the next storey, are 
various departments for fine goods, with admirably arranged shelving 
and cloth covered counters. Above is another fiat laid out in a 
similar manner, and the other is open for storage. The sunken floor 
is used partly as a bonded warehouse, and there are vaults under the 
yard, and also under the street, for storage. Here also space lias been 
left for the furnace of the hot air apparatus, with which the build- 
ing is heated, the flues being very neatly introduced through the 
different apartments with the utmost precautions against fire. The 
gas fittings are handsome and in a uniform style ; and the building 
is supplied with water. The establishment is altogether the most 
handsome and complete structure of the kind which we have in the 
City, and reflects the greatest credit upon the owners, architect, 
and builders. It is in fact a model warehouse. 

The wholesale stores of William McMaster, Bryce McMurrich <fe 
Co., I. C. Gilmour, William Rose & Co., Shaw, Turnbull & Co., 
in the immediate neighbourhood — are all substantial and commo- 
dious buildings, well adapted for the purpose to which they are 
applied, although not so highly ornamented as that just alluded to. 
Passing King street we reach Adelaide street on the North side 
of which stands 

ZIOIT CHAPEL, 

At its intersection with Bay street. This chapel is under the pas- 
toral charge of the Bevd. Mr. Ellerby, who succeeded the Bevd. 
John Boaf, who for many years had the pastoral charge of this, the 
First Congregational Church. Mr. Boaf, who had previously been 
settled in Wolverhampton, England, arrived in Toronto in the end 
of 1837 — to preside over the Congregational body which had been orga- 
nized three years before under the Bevd. Mr. Merrifield. The 
chapel erected for him in 1840 on the corner of Adelaide and Bay 
streets was destroyed by fire on the 25th of February, 1855. The 
present structure was erected on the site of the old building from 
designs by William Thomas. It is in the Lombard style of archi- 
tecture. The building is of brick throughout, with Ohio stone 
dressings. The tower and spire are on the north-west angle, form- 
ing a conspicuous object when entering the city from King street 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIE LOCATIONS. 253 

west. It is divided into five bays, with a two-light semi- circular 
headed window in each, having square buttresses between, with stone 
weatherings and brick corbel table under the eaves. The interior 
is fitted up with galleries on three sides. The ground floor has 
centre and side aisles, and large entrance lobby in front, con- 
taining staircases to the galleries. The roof is partly open, show- 
ing the arches of the principals springing from the columns, and 
stained. The dimensions are 95 by 50 feet over the walls. The 
height of the spire and tower from the ground to the vane is 166 
feet. The entire cost of the building was £4,304. 

Still keeping north we come to Temperance Street, on the south 
side of which is located the 

NEW CONNEXION METHODIST CHURCH, 

A plain structure in the spurious Gothic style. The building is 45 
feet on Temperance street by 85 feet deep. On the 25th of August, 
1846, the foundation stone was laid and the building was opened for 
worship at the close of the same year. Immediately adjoining this 
church is the 

TEMPERANCE HALL, 

Erected on a site presented to the Old Temperance Reform Asso- 
ciation by Jesse Ketchum. It is 45 feet long by 65 feet deep. The 
foundation stone was laid on the 5th October, 1846. The basement 
is divided into six apartments, part of which is occupied by the hall 
keeper. The remaining rooms are used for committee meetings. 
The large Hall has recently undergone extensive alterations, a 
gallery having been put in and other improvements which add con- 
siderably to the internal appearance. There are several Divisions of 
Sons of Temperance and Cadets that hold their stated meetings in the 
Hall. The building originally cost £1,200. The old Temperance 
Reformation Society to which this Hall belongs was organized in 
1839. It has done nothing for several years, until within these few 
months past, when by the exertions of the Rev. Mr. Fyfe, Rev. 
Mr. Marling, E. F. Whittemore and a few others, several public 
meetings were held, and resolutions passed, one of which was to 
improve the hall so that it would be more commodious and comfor- 
table as a place of meeting. The operations will soon be completed. 
The next Street north of Temperance Street is Richmond Street, 
on the south side of which stands the 



A plain building in the Grecian style, 65 feet long by 85 feet deep 



254 TORONTO. 

and capable of seating 2,600 persons. It cost about £3,500. Imme- 
diately west of this chapel is the 

SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 

Under the pastoral charge of the Rev. F. H. Marling. This is a small 
plain frame building, erected upwards of 20 years ago by the 
Episcopal Methodists, and subsequently occupied for several years 
by the United Presbyterian body. The Rev. Mr. Marling was 
translated from Montreal in 1854, to take the oversight of this con- 
gregation. The building has been recently enlarged and now seats 
300 persons. West from this chapel on the same side is 

THE BAY STREET UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

Under the pastoral superintendence of the Rev. John Jennings, D.D. 
This church was erected in 1848, from designs by William Thomas, 
in the middle pointed style of English Gothic of the latter part of 
the 14th century. It is built of white brick with stone dressings 
and carving, 75 feet from front to rear and 35 feet wide, containing 
sittings for about 650 persons. The tower is in the centre of the 
front and is 16 feet square at the base, measuring across the but- 
tresses, and rises to the height of 72 feet to the coping of a pan- 
nelled parapet, and finished with a louvre of a highly ornamental 
character, connected with pinnacles at angles of tower by flying but- 
tresses, the total height being about 100 feet from pavement. The 
church has three main entrances in front with a large three light 
traceried window above centre door way ; the window heads are all 
filled with tracery of pleasing design. The interior is of a plain and 
substantial character, with a gallery extending across the west end 
and along the sides. The pulpit and precentor's desk are highly 
ornamented. The building cost about £3,000. 

Immediately north of Richmond Street is Queen Street, on the 
south side of which a little west of Yonge Street stands 

KNOX'S CHURCH, 

Which was built in the year 1847 from designs by William Tliomas, 
Architect. It is a handsome structure of the decorated Gothic style 
built of white brick with cut stone dressings. It is 98 feet deep, with 
a frontage of 64 feet, and contains sittings for 1150 persons. There 
is a large airy basement under the chinch Avliioh is used for a Sunday 
School, and other congregational purposes. The front has a fine 
flight of steps leading to the three main entrances. The tower is 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 255 

21 feet at the base across the buttresses, and rises to a height of 100 
feet to the base of the spire, the total height of which from the 
ground is 185 feet. The spire is built of wood covered with tin with 
finial and copper gilt vane at apex. The tower at the base of the 
spire is of a highly ornamental character, with four large angular 
pinnacles and crocketted flying buttresses, connecting them with the 
spire. It has also one two-light traceried window with crocketted and 
pannelled gables to each face. The flanks of the building have projec- 
ted buttresses with stone dressings. The windows are in three lights, 
each with ornamental traceried beads. The pulpit and screen are 
richly carved, and pannelled and surmounted by an elegant, pierced 
traceried, and enriched, canopy. The roof is divided into compart- 
ments by the principals, part of which appear below the ceiling, 
and are constructed with pierced and ornamental spandrils, and 
corbels. The Rev. Mr. Topp of Edinburgh, was inducted into the 
pastoral charge of this congregation on the 16th of September, as 
successor to Rev. Dr. Burns, now one of the professors of Knox 
College. East considerably from Knox's church, on the corner of 
Mutual and Queen Streets, 

cooke's church 

Or Irish Free Presbyterian Church, has recently been erected from 
the designs of William Thomas and Sons, Architects. It is of white 
brick in the Lombardian style of architecture, and is of a plain but 
substantial character, the chief ornamentation being in brickwork, 
with a projecting corbel table to eaves and gables. The build- 
ing is 102 feet in depth with a frontage of 55 feet. The flanks 
are divided by large flat buttresses into five bays, having win- 
dows of two lights each, with semi-circular heads, corbels and archi- 
traves in ornamental brickwork. The front has three divisions with 
towers on each angle, and boldly projecting entrance porch. The 
angle towers are each 14 feet square and are 110 feet in height from 
ground to tops of spires. The spires are of wood covered with 
shingles painted with fire proof paint, slate colour, the towers 
are divided into separate stages with ornamental and corbelled brick 
strings with a projecting cornice and four large pinnacles at base 
of spire. The church has sitting accommodation for 850 persons. 
The pulpit end has an ornamental screen and rose window of stained 
glass in an arched recess ; the pulpit and precentor's desk and plat- 
form are also ornamented and covered. The spacious basement 
storey underneath the church is used for Sunday School and other 
congregational purposes. This congregation is under the pastoral 



256 TORONTO. 

charge of the Rev. William Greig, who was translated from Belleville 
as a successor to Rev. Mr. Marshall. Still proceeding up Yonge 
Street we come to Louisa Street, where, at its intersection with 
James Street and immediately opposite to the Louisa Street Free 
Sohool, stands 

THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN" CHURCH, 

Under the pastoral care of the Rev. Robert Johnson. This is a 
plain substantial frame building, rough-cast, designed by Jos. Sheard, 
and built by subscriptions collected almost entirely by the energetic 
pastor himself throughout the city. It was erected in the latter part 
of 1852 and opened for worship on the 6th of February 1853. There 
is a basement fitted up for Sabbath school and congregational pur- 
poses. It has no gallery but contains about 450 sittings. The cost 
of the entire structure was nearly £600. The next Street north of 
Louisa Street on the Yonge Street line is Alice Street, on which 
stands 

ALICE STREET PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHAPEL. 

This Chapel was also from designs by Joseph Sheard, Architect, and 
erected under his superintendence. It is built of white brick, with 
cut stone dressings and pilasters. The basement is of stone, and 
neatly coursed. In the main front, surmounted by the tower, are 
the vestibule and staircases, the front being finished with pilasters 
on each side of the vestibule, and at the external angles of the build- 
ing the architraves and cornice are continued along the front in an 
unbroken line, and finished with a pediment. Over this is the tower, 
which is ninety feet high, of frame work, with cornice off-sets. The 
top of the cupola is tinned, and finished with a gilt dome. The cen- 
tral vestibule affords access on each side both to the body of the church 
and the staircases. The chapel is 76 feet 6 inches long, 48 feet 6 
inches wide, and 28 feet high, to the ceiling. It contains, on the 
ground floor and side aisles, pews capable of accommodating 460 
persons. The gallery extends along the two sides and one end, and 
is seated to contain 230 persons, making in all 690 sittings. The 
gallery projects considerably beyond the columns, and the soffits are 
panelled to correspond with the front of the gallery, and grained in 
imitation of oak. The columns are stained in imitation of Sienna 
marble. The end gallery is arranged for the organ and choir. The 
pulpit is at the south end of the church. The design consists of a 
pannelled and moulded surbase, upon which are placed four attached 
fluted Corinthian columns, on each side of a recess, supporting an 
entablature, surmounted by a circular pediment. The carving of 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIE LOCATIONS. 257 

the foliage of the capitals and other parts has been well executed. 
The pediment is sub-divided into three compartments, having highly 
enriched wreaths hanging from scrolls on each side, with ornamented 
keystone in centre. The recess between the columns is panelled 
with crimson damask, having a gilt frame continued round, and also 
contains an elegant sofa for the minister. The platform is about 
22 feet long and 6 feet in width. The reading desk consists of a 
moulded and enriched panel and a pedestal at each extremity, beau- 
tifully ornamented. The gas pillars, imported from England ex- 
pressly for this church, are bronzed and gilt, all somewhat massive 
in character and supported by small carved consoles. The cushions 
and drapery are of crimson silk velvet, trimmed with silk fringe, 
and the top of the desk is finished to correspond with the cushion. 
The stairs to the platform are at the extreme ends, having large or- 
namental consoles, forming rails between the stairs. Immediately 
in front of the minister's desk is the communion table, which is en- 
closed by a neat balustrade, the top being covered similarly to the 
cushion of the reading desk. The other apartments are the lecture 
room and class rooms in the basement. The cost of the church, in- 
cluding the inclosures and laying out of the grounds, with other 
incidental expenses, was over £3,200 currency. 
Midway between Alice and Louisa Streets 

THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY 

Is located. This Church was built about twelve years ago, from an 
anonymous donation of £5,000 by a lady in England. Of this sum 
over £3,000 was paid for the Church, the balance was funded for an 
endowment. The Church is an oblong building in the debased 
Gothic style, with a shallow projection for a chancel, and two shallow 
transepts. There are two spiral stairs at the west end, terminating 
in battlemented turrets, repetitions of which are used at various 
other points, by way of ornament, and in some cases as chimneys. 
The Church is large and roomy. There is a gallery in one of the 
transepts in which is the organ, and another gallery in the west end. 
The ceiling forms an obtuse angle, plastered and ribbed with narrow 
wood mouldings, the principals shewing through at intervals, and 
curved, resting on moulded wood corbek. The Church is seated 
with low open benches of good construction. 

There is a large stone font in the Church designed by Dr. Beaven, 
and a stained glass window, designed by Mr. Hay, architect, and 
executed by Ballantyne of Edinburgh, representing life-sized figures 
of the four Evangelists, under ornamental canopies, with their re- 



258 TORONTO. 

spective emblems in quatre-foils below. In the tracery there is an 
ornamental cross, the alpha and omega, and other emblems. This 
window was the anonymous gift of a member of the congregation. 
It is valued at £150 sterling. There are two other stained windows, 
of four lights, by Bullock of Toronto ; also by an anonymous donor. 

In connection with this Church are Parochial Schools. These 
consist of a group of buildings attached to the Church, abutting on 
its south-east corner, and comprise a school for boys on the ground 
floor, and one for girls on the upper floor, approached by separate 
entrances. There is a small whiter chapel on the upper floor for the 
daily services of the Church, separated from the girls' school by an 
open screen of wood work, behind which is a curtain. The whole is 
so arranged that the school is rendered available for the worshippers 
during service. The walls are lined on the inside with fine white 
pressed brick. The roof of the upper school and chapel is of open 
wood work, stained and varnished. From the ceiling depends a 
neat corona lucis, with four lights. Round the band, which is more 
than four feet diameter, is inscribed in Old English characters illu- 
minated, the Scripture, ' ' Let your light so shine before men that 
they seeing your good works may glorify your Father which is in 
Heaven." The east windows of the chapel is a triplet filled with 
very good stained glass, by Bullock of Toronto, representing in 
medallion forms, the Nativity, the Baptism of our Lord, the Cruci- 
fixion, Resurrection and Ascension. The windows have their jambs 
and arches of hewn stone, in that style called flush tracery. The 
walls are of white brick, with stone dressings. The roofs are of 
equilateral pitch. Surmounting the apex of one of them, is a neat 
little bell-cot, supported on two posts, capped with a gilded ball and 
vane. They were erected at a cost of £1, 000, subscribed by mem- 
bers of the congregation, Mr. Hay furnishing the plans, and super- 
intended the erection of the buildings gratuitously. 

Both schools are well attended. They are under the care of the 
assistant clergyman. Mr. Vial the choir master of the Church is the 
head master. 

Proceeding north we reach Gould Street, on which stands 

THE GOULD STREET UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

At its intersection with Victoria Street. This Church was erected 
for the Rev. Dr. Taylor, Professor of Divinity to the United Pres- 
byterian Church in Canada. The congregation was formed in the 
Old Mechanics' Institute in 1854, and continued to worship there 
until the opening of their new place of worship on the 11th of Jan- 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THELR LOCATIONS. 259 

nary, 1857. This Church is built of white brick with freestone 
dressings, in the late first pointed style of English architecture of 
the 13th century. It consists of a single nave with a broad pointed 
roof of good pitch. There is a tower and spire at the north-west 
angle 160 feet high. The spire is very tastefully covered with slate 
of a light green colour. The details are simple but correct. The 
side walls are pierced with mullioned and traceried windows of two 
lights each, with quatref oil heads. Over the main entrance in the 
north end is a simple but beautiful window of three lights, separated 
by broad piers, the centre light depressed. The whole is surmounted, 
by a large cinquefoil light, and embraced within a hood moulding, 
forming a trefoil head. This window, with the exception of the 
hood and sills, is entirely of brick work, executed in a very neat 
style of workmanship. The whole of the windows and doors have 
stone label or hood mouldings, with carved dripstone terminations. 
The buttresses are massively treated with fine steep weatherings. 
Internally the church presents a clear space, there being no galleries 
save a narrow one over the vestibule at the end. The seats are 
arranged in three columns, with two passages, for the sake of econo- 
mising space. The original design of the architect was to divide the 
space into a nave and aisles, with a tripartite roof and a central pas- 
sage. The cost of this edifice was £3,754. The hours of service 
are different from those of the other churches in town. The congre- 
gation assembles for worship at 11 a.m., and for afternoon worship 
at half-past 2 o'clock. The Sunday School meets at a quarter past 
4 o'clock. The Church was erected from designs by William Hay, 
and is the chastest architectural edifice in the City. 

Immediately opposite to this Church is the Normal School Square, 
on which stand 

THE NORMAL AND MODEL SCHOOLS. 

This extensive and important establishment is located in the centre 
of an open square of about seven acres and a half of ground between 
Church and Victoria Streets, bounded on the North by G-errard St. , 
and on the South by G-ould Street. It is a beautiful situation, 
heightened considerably in effect by the very tasteful manner in 
which the grounds are laid out. The square was purchased in Au- 
gust, 1850, from the Hon. Peter McGill, of Montreal, by the Coun- 
cil of Public Instruction for the sum of £4, 500. The first grant 
given by the Legislature for the purposes of the Normal School was 
£15,000, to which was added in 1852 a further sum of £10,000. 
The building cost somewhere about £9,000, and the fitting up was 



260 TORONTO. 

upwards of £1500 in addition. The corner stone of the building 
was laid on the 2nd July, 1851, by His Excellency the Earl of Elgin, 
in presence of a large concourse of spectators ; and the Institution 
was opened on the 24th November, 1852. 

The armorial bearings of the Earl of Elgin were tastefully engraved 
on the silver trowel used by His Excellency on the occasion, and its 
ivory handle was ornamented with a coronet wrought in silver. The 
blade of the trowel bore the following inscription : 

THE CHIEF CORNER STONE 

OP 

THE NORMAL AND MODEL SCHOOLS FOR UPPER CANADA, 

WAS LAID ON 

Wednesday, the Second day of July, 1851, 

In the Fifteenth: Yeab of the Reign 

of 

HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA, 

BY 

THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, K.T., 

Governor General of British North America. 
On the reverse was : — 

presented 
to 

THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, K. T. 

BY 

THE COUNCIL OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 

for 

UPPER CANADA, 

Toronto, 2nd July, 1851. 

The inscription on the brass plate which covered the cavity of the 
stone, was as follows : — 

THIS 

THE CHIEF CORNER STONE 
of 
THE NORMAL AND MODEL SCHOOLS FOR UPPER CANADA. 

WAS LAID ON 

Wednesday, the Second day of July, 1851, 

In thf Fifteenth Year of the Reign 

of 

HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY, QUEEN VICTORIA, 

BY 

THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, K. T., 

Governor General of British North America, &c, &c, 

in the presence of 

TnE President and Members of the Executive Council, 

The Speaker and Members of the Legislative Council, 

The Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly, 

The Chairman and Members of the Council of Public Instruction, 

The Mayor, Municipal Council and Citizens of the city of Toronto. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 261 

THIS INSTITUTION 

Erected by the Enlightened Liberality op Parliament, 

is designed for the 

Instruction & Training of School Teachers upon Christian Principles. 

The Council of Public Instruction, for Upper Canada : 

The Reverend Egerton Ryerson, D.D., Chief Superintendent of Schools. 

The Honorable Samuel Bealy Harrison,' Chairman. 

The Rt. Rev. A. P. M. de Charbonnel, D.D., Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto. 

The Reverend Henry James Grasett, A.M. 

Joseph Curran Morrison, Esq., M.P.P. 

Hugh Scobie, Esq. 

James Scott Howard, Esq. 

The Reverend John Jennings. 

The Reverend Adam Lillie. 

John George Hodgins, Esq., Recording Clerk, 

Frederick W. Cumberland, and Thomas Ridout, Esquires, Architects. 

Messrs. Metcalfe, Wilson & Forbes, Contractors. 

A bottle containing the following documents, &c, was handed by- 
Hugh Scobie to His Excellency, who placed it in the cavity of the 
stone prepared for its reception : 

Report on a system of Public Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada, 
1846 : Journal of Education for August, 1849, containing the Annual Re* 
port of the Normal, Model and Common Schools in Upper Canada, for 
1847, containing an account of the opening of the Normal School in No- 
vember, 1847 ; Common School Act of 7 th Victoria, chapter 29 ; Common 
School Act, 9th Victoria, chapter 20 ; Common School Act, 10th and 11th 
Victoria, chapter 19; Common School Act, 13th and 14th Victoria, chap- 
ter 48, with Forms, Regulations, Instructions, and Circulars ; Parchment 
copy of the Inscription on the Plate deposited in the cavity of the Corner 
Stone: Journal of Education for May, 1848, containing an account of the 
first Examination of the Normal School; Programme of the last Examina- 
tion of the Normal and Model Schools, ending 31st May, 1851 ; Journal of 
Education for May, 1851, containing an account of the last examination; 
Scobie's Almanac for 1851 ; Programme of the ceremony observed at lay- 
ino* the Chief Corner Stone of the Normal School, and Engraving of 
Building ; Sundry silver and copper coins ; Different denominations of 
Canadian postage stamps. 

The principal building has 184 feet 4 inches of a frontage, with a 
depth on the flanks of 85 feet, and is two storeys in height. The 
central portion of the front consists of a plain pediment supported 
by pilasters and frieze, of the Roman Doric Order. The frieze is 
richly decorated with metopes, modillions and dentils. The main 
building is surmounted by an open campanile rising 96 feet from the 
ground. — square in plan, with piers of clustered pilasters and arches 
with a cornice and ogee dome roof enriched with carving on the 



262 TORONTO. 

angles, and terminated with a ball and vane. The main entrance is 
in the central front, leading to a large hall intersected at the upper 
end by a spacious corridor, the entire length of the building. On 
the ground floor are the rooms of the Chief Superintendent, the De- 
puty Superintendent and staff of clerks, the Public Library and 
Book Depository and Council Room. 

A door from the upper end of the hall leads to the platform of the 
theatre, with side entrances for the students. The area of the theatre 
is seated to accommodate 470 students, and the gallery 150, in all 
620. It is semi-circular in rear, and admirably adapted for a lecture 
room. Around the outer wall of the theatre and beneath its gallery 
are corridors by which students enter the Model School, which is 175 
feet 6 inches long, by 59 feet deep, divided equally into Boys' and 
Girls' departments. 

Spacious stairs lead from the corridor to the upper floor, the rooms 
of which were formerly devoted to the Normal School class rooms 
and Masters' rooms. This department is now carried on in the new 
Model Grammar School recently erected in rear of the main building 
— and the upper floor is devoted to rooms for statuary, a picture 
gallery and museum. The walls of the gallery of the central hall 
are also devoted to busts and medallions tastefully arranged around 
the walls. In the picture gallery there are some good paintings — 
almost all of them copies, however, as the great aim of the Chief 
Superintendent was to get as large a collection of the works of the 
ancient masters as possible, without incurring the enormous expense 
of original paintings. The statuary has been provided on the same 
principle, and when it is all arranged as it will be in a very few days, 
this museum will form one of the most attractive features in our 
city. The ornithological department contains specimens of all or 
nearly all our Canadian birds, arranged with considerable taste by 
Mr. May, the curator of the establishment, to whom I am' indebted 
for his kind assistance in the arrangement and preparation of the 
ornithological section of this work. The Typical Case is a feature in 
this department worthy of notice. Mr. May has fitted up a typical 
case of ornithology, containing representatives of each type or order, 
thus, for example : 

Order I. — Birds of Prey — is represented by the Great Footed 
Hawk, diurnal : and by the Snowy Owl, nocturnal. 

Order II. — Perching Birds — is represented, Family 1, by the 
Night Hawk ; 2, by Humming Birds ; 3, by Warblers and Bohemian 
Chatterer ; 4, Meadow Lark, Redwing, and Starling. 

Order III. — Climbers — is represented by Woodpeckers. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 2G3 

Order IV. — Scrapers — by the Ruffed Grouse. 

Order V. — Waders — by the Rail, Plover, Bittern, and Red-breasted 
Sand Piper. 

Order VI — Swimmers — by the Velvet Duck and Crested Grebe. 

These specimens are all Canadian, and are arranged according to 
their natural habits. Typical cases are of importance in teaching 
the student to trace the connecting links between the various spe- 
cies — and therefore ought to form a feature in all our Educational 
Establishments where Natural History is taught. 

Returning again to Yonge Street, and proceeding northwards, we 
pass the Nursery and Gardens of Mr. James Fleming, so well 
known in connexion with all our Horticultural and Provincial Ex- 
hibitions. A little higher up we reach the College Avenue, which 
leads to the University Buildings and Park. A little north of the 
Avenue stands 

KNOX COLLEGE, 

The Divinity Hall of the Presbyterian or Free Church body in 
Canada. At its institution accommodation was found in the buildings 
on Front Street now known as Sword's Hotel ; but in 1855 the Col- 
lege Council purchased Elmsley Villa on the corner of Grosvenor 
Street, which was occupied as a residence by His Excellency Lord 
Elgin from 1849 to 1851, when the Seat of Government rotated to 
Quebec. The sum paid for the old building, inclusive of an acre of 
ground surrounding it, was £5,500. A large wing, 60 feet by 52 
feet, three storeys in height, has since been added, which gives 
accommodation for a dining hall 38 feet by 52 feet, with closets and 
other conveniences, and also for 28 large bed-rooms for boarders. 
Immediately north of Grosvenor Street, and passing Breadalbane 
and Wellesley Streets, we reach Clover Hill Road, leading to 

st. basil's chtthch 

And College of St. Michael. The site of this building is 125 feet 
above the level of the Lake, and is one of the most delightful sites in 
the neighbourhood. The building was erected from designs by Wm. 
Hay, and under his superintendence. The whole group of St. 
Michael's College, when completed, is calculated to accommodate 
200 pupils. The principal wing, now built, is 90 feet in length, and 
40 in breadth, and the height is 48 feet ; at the west end of which is 
a Church, 100 feet in length, by 50 in breadth — affording a Chapel for 
the convenience of the pupils, and also a facility for the Catholics of 
the environs to assist at Divine Service on Sundays and Festivals. 



261 TORONTO. 

The buildings are arranged in the form of a quadrangle, after the 
manner of the ancient English colleges. The Church occupies one 
side of the square, and consists of nave and aisles, with extended 
chancel and side chapels. The style of the sacred edifice is severe 
first pointed, or that which prevailed in England about the middle of 
the thirteenth century. The roof is of open timber construction of 
bold design, forming an imposing feature in the internal aspect 
of the Church. The tower is situated at a corner of the nave ; and 
crowned by a light, graceful spire, opens, at its base, a communica- 
tion between the Church and the low cloister. This cloister forms 
part of a continuous ambulatory round the entire quadrangle. The 
Collegiate buildings are grouped together on the remaining sides of 
the square with regard to convenience and propriety of arrangement. 
They consist chiefly of Class-rooms, Community-room, Refectory, 
Dormitories, and private rooms for the Superior and Masters, with 
domestic buildings for the servants of the institution. The irregular 
boundary lines of the ground have afforded the Architect an oppor- 
tunity of giving a very pleasing and picturesque constructive effect to 
the grouping of the more open part of the quadrangle. The ground, 
rising considerably above the level of the street, renders a flight of 
steps necessary, which is here protected by an elegant Gate-house, 
ornamented with niches for statuary, and surmounted by a pinnacle 
and Cross. There also appears, rising over the low cloister, the an- 
cient quadrangle Cross in the middle of the square, which, in ancient 
days of faith, frequently formed the rich sculptured canopy of a 
sacred fountain, and will, in this case, probably be connected with a 
well in the centre of the Court. The courses of study in the College 
are divided into two departments — one Commercial and the other 
Classical. The first, for such pupils as require only a limited instruc- 
tion suitable to the ordinary occupations of life, which comprises 
Heading, Writing, the study of the English and French languages, 
Arithmetic, Book-keeping by single and double entry, the elements 
of Algebra and Geometry, History, Geography, and the primary 
principles of Natural History. The second is adapted to those who 
prepare themselves for a more learned profession, and embraces the 
study of the English and French, Latin and Greek languages, of 
Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Geography and Histoiy — Ancient 
and Modern. In both departments the pupils are exercised in Lite- 
rary Compositions according to their age and class. If it be required 
by parents, they can receive, also, lessons in Drawing and Music. 
The Directors of the College belong to a religious society placed 
under the patronage of St. Basil. Returning again to the road, and 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 265 

proceeding north, we reach Bloor Street, the northern City limits. 
A little to the right, on the north side of the street, stands the 

YORKVILLE METHODIST CHAPEL. 

Passing westward on Bloor Street, we reach the head of the Col- 
lege Avenue and retrace our steps to the City through the University 
Grounds, part of which has now been presented to" the City for a 
Park, but nothing has yet been done towards its formation. A little 
further south we pass on the left the old University Buildings, now 
occupied as a Female Lunatic Asylum ; and, looking thence west 
and north, the 

NEW UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS 

Raise their imposing form. They will not be completed for some 
time, and will therefore be more correctly described at a future day. 
The Museum connected with the University is well supplied with 
specimens of the Natural History of Canada, from the black bear to 
the minute beetle. Professor Hincks has devoted considerable time 
to its arrangement and classification, presenting the Fauna of each 
country in a separate department, but, until the new buildings are 
completed, the beautiful forms cannot be seen to advantage, as they 
are at present closely packed, the one against the other, for want of 
space. The frontage of the New Buildings is 300 feet, with a 
massive Norman tower two stories in height, the ground one being 
devoted to lecture rooms — the upper to the Library and Museum. 
The east side of the building is 260 feet, and is entered by a smaller 
or subsidiary tower. This portion of the building is to be devoted 
to the University, having Senate Chamber, Chancellor's, Yice- 
Chancellor's and Registrar's rooms, lecture rooms, and the Hall of 
Convocation, 90 by 38, of the full height. The west end of the 
Quadrangle, about 200 feet in length, will comprise the students' 
residences, three storeys in height, with a dining hall 56 by 34 on the 
centre, and having to the rear the necessary domestic offices and 
steward's residence. The northern limits of the east and west 
wings respectively will be completed by the official residences of the 
President and Dean of the College, and at the south-west angle of 
the whole is the Chemical Laboratory, looking in the distance some- 
thing like a faithful copy of an old Glass and Bottle Works. The 
general accommodation will be comprised in the lecture theatre and 
nine class rooms with Professors' rooms attached, library and read- 
ing rooms, museum, with preparation and curator's rooms, Senate 
Chamber, Chancellor's rooms, and other University offices. The 



266 TORONTO. 

Convocation Hall, President's and Dean's residence, quarters for 60 
students, with College dining hall and all necessary appurtenances, 
all of which may at some future time be more minutely described. — 
In the eastern extremity of the University Park the 

ROYAL MAGNETICAL OBSERVATORY 

Is located. This Institution was founded by the Imperial Govern- 
ment in 1846, and the officers commenced their operations in a 
wooden building. It was superintended by Col. Lefroy, R. A. , a 
gentleman to whom we had occasion to allude in connexion with the 
Canadian Institute. On his departure for England he was suc- 
ceeded by Professor Cherriman of University College, who held the 
appointment in addition to discharging his other duties, until the 
appointment of the present incumbent, Professor Kingston. New 
buildings of stone of a more substantial character were commenced 
in 1854 under the superintendence of Messrs. Cumberland & Storm, 
the architects of the New University Buildings. The Observatory 
was completed in 1855. The main building is a rectangular struc- 
ture about 54 feet from north to south in the direction of the mag- 
netic meridian, 44 feet from east to west, and 16 feet in height 
exclusive of the roof. At the north-west corner, and included in the 
above horizontal dimensions is a square tower 16 feet by 16, the top 
of which is 45 feet above the ground. From the southern face of 
the main building and at right angles to it, extends a passage 4J 
feet wide which communicates at its southern extremity with a 
room 20 feet by 13, appropriated to the observations for determining 
the horizontal magnetic intensity. On the east and west sides of 
this passage, and communicating with it by a second transverse 
passage, are two small rooms — the transit room and the absolute 
declination room. The three rooms just mentioned with their con- 
necting passages form a cross 72 feet from north to south, 73 feet 
from east to west, and 8^ feet in height. The extreme height of the 
whole is thus 126 feet and its greatest width 73 feet. 

"We now proceed through what is termed the South College 
Avenue, which opens out on King Street, and, turning west to near 
the head of York Street, pass on the left 

OSGOOD E HALL, 

The seat of the Law Courts. This building is at present undergoing 
extensive alterations. — Proceeding South by York Street, we reach 

THE ROSSIN HOUSE, 

Our largest and most handsome Hotel. This building, erected by 
the enterprising brothers, Messrs. Rossin, supplies a want long felt 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIB LOCATIONS. 267 

by strangers from the neighboring States, where Hotel accommoda- 
tion forms one of the marked features of their social arrangements. 
Rossin House is a plain massive looking structure in the Italian 
style, built under the superintendence of Win. Kaufiman, Architect. 
The entire frontage on York Street is 152 feet, the frontage on King 
Street is 203 feet, forming a right angle and presenting a facade 355 
feet long and five stories in height. The flank on King Street is 60 
feet deep, that on York Street 50 feet. From about the centre of 
the King Street frontage an additional building extends nearly to a 
line with the York Street flank, containing the dining room 90 feet 
by 40 feet, billiard room, &c. The fronts of the ground storey, 
which is all 14 feet high, are of cast iron and plate glass, with marble 
window-sills. The dressings of the windows are of Ohio freestone, 
forming in all eleven stores on King Street and four on York Street, 
The upper storeys are of pressed brick with stone dressings. The 
main entrance is on York Street, and presents a colonnade or 
recessed portico 20 feet in width, with fluted columns, leading to a 
spacious Hall paved with encaustic tiles. The reading-room, 
smoking-room, &c. , lead from this Hall to the right. A spacious 
oaken stair with massive balusters and hand-railing leads to the 
second floor, on which is the drawing-room 60 feet by 24 feet, the 
dining room already referred to, and a variety of other apartments. 
There are in all 252 rooms in the building — the principal ones are 
all heated by steam — and all of them are lighted with gas. The 
building was commenced on the 15th of September, 1855, and 
finished on the 15th of May, 1857. 

The Union Railroad Station which forms the terminus for the 
Grand Trunk, Northern, and Great Western Railways, is at the 
foot of York Street so that this Hotel is most conveniently situated 
for travellers. Proceeding west along Front Street we come to 

PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS. 

The first Parliament Houses were erected in the year 1796, on a site 
near the present goal, at the east end of the city. They were of 
brick, two in number, 40 by 25 feet, and standing a hundred feet 
apart, a space wich was afterwards filled up by additional buildings. 
They had some pretensions to elegance of design and construction, 
but were destroyed by the Americans on the taking of the town in 
1813. They were replaced in 1820, the Government business having 
been meanwhile transacted in the building on Wellington Street, 
lately occupied by Chief Justice Draper, but which has now dis- 
appeared. On the night of the 30th December 1824, they were 



268 TOBONTO. 

unfortunately destroyed by fire, caused by some defect in the flues, 
a fruitful cause of accidents to Parliament Houses, in Canada. 
Several of the journals and other papers belonging to the House 
were destroyed. Parliament met in the brick Hospital on King 
street, until the erection of the present Houses which were com- 
menced soon after the fire, but not completed till 1830. The designs 
Were prepared by Mr. J. G. Chewett ; the west wing was built by 
Messrs. Ewart and Parkes, the centre was commenced by Mr. 
Priestman and finished, with the east wing, by Mr. Joseph Turton. 
The buildings occupy the whole block, bounded by Wellington, 
Simcoe, John and Front streets, the front looking to the Bay and 
presenting a conspicuous object from the water. They are of red 
brick with plain exterior, but the chambers of the Legislative Council 
and the Assembly are capacious and handsome rooms fitted up with 
elegance. The offices attached are so extensive that a part of them 
are devoted to the accommodation of the Departments. It was 
proposed some time ago to erect a range of buildings suitable for the 
accommodation of Parliament and the Government, on the fine pro- 
perty of the Toronto University, at the head of the College Avenue, 
but this design has been abandoned, and the old House with addi- 
tions and improvements, is again in occupation. The additions made 
to the main building consist of two extensive wings in the rear, each 
containing a large and spacious room, one used as a library for the 
Legislative Council, another as a reading room for the members of 
the House of Assembly, while in each is a good wardrobe chamber. 
A number of committee-rooms occupy the floors of these wings. The 
old Legislative Assembly room was considerably enlarged and new 
galleries erected. The spaces between the central building and the 
wings were filled up with buildings, that on the eastern side is occu- 
pied by the Speakers' apartments on the ground floor and committee 
rooms on the upper floor. The one on the west is occupied as a 
reading room for the members of the Legislative Council with com- 
mittee rooms above. The new library is a very extensive building 
forming three sides of the quadrangle in the rear. The books 
number about 30,000 volumes. The principal rooms are heated by 
warm air. 

The alterations were executed from the plans and under the super- 
intendence of William Hay, architect. The work was done in an 
incredibly short space of time, some hundred workmen being em- 
ployed. The west wing contains the offices of the Inspector General, 
Auditor, Commissioner of Customs, (fee. The east wing contains the 
offices of the translators and various other offices connected with the 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR LOCATIONS. 269 

Legislative Assembly and several committee rooms. A wooden 
building near the west wing is devoted to the offices of the Government 
Railway Inspector. 

The Executive Council offices are in the building formerly occu- 
pied as the general Hospital. This building, was thoroughly renovated 
internally, the large rooms which had been used as sick wards were 
re-floored, the walls cleaned, and in some cases re-plastered and hung 
with magnificent and costly paper hangings, pannelled in the most 
tasteful style. On the first floor are the Council room ; the 
Governor General's office with ante-rooms, secretary's office, andAid- 
de-Camps apartment. There is also the President's room, clerk's 
rooms, <fec. On the 2nd floor are the offices of the Provincial 
secretaries east and west, with their several appendant offices, &c. 
In the rear of the building is a new fire proof building for the Pro- 
vincial Registry Office. The roof is vaulted in four rings of brick 
upon girders of boiler plate rivetted together in lengths of 6 feet, 
and are 18 inches deep with flanges upon which rest the arches the 
girders have a space of 13 feet and are only one quarter of an inch 
in thickness. The plan was furnished by William Hay Architect 
who also superintend the alterations. 

A little further west, on Victoria Square, stands the 

NEW WOODEN CHURCH. 

This is a very picturesque and Church-like edifice, and deserving of 
notice for its severe simplicity yet elegance of structure and design, 
and its remarkable cheapness. It accommodates more than 500 per- 
sons, and cost a little over £350. It has a nave, aisles, chancel, and 
porch. The chancel is apsidal or semi-octagonal. There is a boldly 
constructed bell-cot at the north-west angle. The mode of construction 
is vertical boarding with battened joints, plastered on the interior- 
The roof is shingled and shews the open frame-work inside. The 
windows are grouped in four lights, with straight-pointed heads, 
and are filled with stained glass. The seats are open. There is a 
handsome stone font of large dimensions and of middle pointed 
design. Mr. William Hay was the Architect. The Reverend T. S. 
Kennedy is the incumbent. 

ST. MARY'S, R. C, CHURCH BATHURST STREET. 

This is a simple brick edifice consisting of nave and aisles, built 
about six years ago, by an amateur architect. It was so badly con- 
structed that it is now undergoing a thorough reconstruction. There 



270 TORONTO. 

is a convent in connection with the Church which is simply a large 
frame and rough-cast dwelling house. A new school of two stories, 
built of white brick, was added to the Church by way of a transept, 
about three years ago, and a small but neat priest's house, designed 
by William Hay. The schools are so arranged that they can be 
thrown open to the church when occasion requires. 



CONCLUSION" — ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 

Under this head I intended to include a general sketch of the 
mechanical or manufacturing operations carried on in the city ; but I 
have more than exceeded my space, and therefore must for the pre- 
sent leave this section almost entirely unrepresented. The con- 
struction of the Industrial Palace, by Messrs. Smith, Burke & Co. , 
brought more prominently into view in the immediate foreground 
their extensive establishment as being worthy of special notice. 
Their Sash, Door, and Window Blind Factory is situated on the 
West side of Niagara Street, between Queen and King Streets. 
The main building is 80 feet by 40 feet, three storeys in height, 
erected by the Company themselves for the purpose to which it is 
now applied. On the first floor, there is a large planing machine — 
Woodworth's patent, — manufactured by the Putnam Machine Com- 
pany of Fitchburg. There are also on the same floor one of Daniel's 
planers, a tennoning machine, one large moulding machine, a blind 
machine, and a vertical saw, all manufactured by Ball & Ballard, 
Worcester, Mass. In the flat above there is one small moulding ma- 
chine, and a morticing machine, with a row of benches for the mechan- 
ics who are employed in framing up the work, as it is prepared by these 
machines, and smoothing it off to suit the most fastidious customer. 
The motive power of the whole is a beautifully finished engine of 30 
horse-power, manufactured by Mr. Northey, of Hamilton. The 
shafts are also made by Mr. Northey, and are very fine specimens of 
workmanship. They extend the entire width of the building, and 
are supported by accommodating or adjustible hangers, and bearing 
the several large drums which give motive power to all the machines, 
they revolve with an accuracy which is strikingly effective. The 
proprietors seem to have spared no expense in fitting out their esta- 
blishment. All their machinery is new and of the finest finish, and 
they are in a position to supply the trade with manufactured lumber 
in all its forms — keeping always on hand a large stock of framing 
timber, flooring, doors, sashes, blinds, with window and door trim- 
mings, base mouldings, and everything else connected with the 



AETS AND MANTTEACTTTEES. 271 

trade. They have had considerable experience in business, and 
having a large capital at command, they are enabled to enter upon 
the work in such a way as to make it a consideration for the trade to 
give them their support. This we believe is the only establishment 
of the kind in town, where everything from the lower joists to the 
shingles can be had, ready prepared for the trade. The premises 
cover two acres of ground, and are enclosed with a high wooden 
fence. One of the proprietors resides on the spot, and we doubt not 
will be happy to show the machinery in operation to any of our 
citizens who may wish to see how the rough plank is converted into 
a handsome bound door or a neat window sash. 

The proprietors have also the saw mills of the late J. B. Curtis, at 
Angus, on the Northern Railroad line ; and, from the facilities they 
have there, they can turn out any quantity of timber, from 60 feet 
long and under. They carry on an extensive business at this mill, 
and well deserve to succeed, for they are steady, punctual and active 
business men. 

Jacques and Hay's Factory. — To publish a Hand-book of 
Toronto without a notice, however brief, of Jacques and Hay's Ca- 
binet and Upholstery Establishment, wobld be an unpardonable 
offence. I have already, under the head Water Supply, alluded 
to the fact of this Factory having been recently destroyed by fire, 
in which several lives were lost. That devouring scourge has fre- 
quently visited this establishment, but phcenix-like it has always 
risen with renewed energy from the smouldering ashes. They do an 
extensive business in all kinds of cabinet and upholstery work, and 
have recently commenced to manufacture school furniture to a great 
extent, from designs furnished by the Educational Department. 

Thompson", Keith & Co. — A little step further West, we reach 
the Plumbing and Gas and Steam Fitting Establishment of Thomson, 
Keith <fc Co. This Company carries on an extensive business in 
King Street, manufacturing all kinds of Plumbers' and Engineers' 
Steam Work, and pan and self-acting Water-Closets. They cast, 
finish and fit up on the premises all their own brass work, and they 
have recently commenced manufacturing Portable Gas Works, from 

's patent. These Gas Works are convenient for hotels, 

country residences or churches — manufacturing the gas from rosin oil 
— which gives a purer and more brilliant light than common coal gas. 
They have already fitted up several of these Portable Works, at Clif- 
ton, Whitby and in Toronto, costing from $200 to $400, according to 



272 TOBONTO. 

capacity, and making gas at little over $2 a thousand feet, all work- 
ing expenses included. They have from 20 to 24 hands regularly 
employed. 

Cuming & Wells. — A little further "West, and on the same side 
of the street, is the Plumbing and Gas-fitting establishment of Cum- 
ing <fc Wells, which has been in existence for a number of years in 
the City. This firm carries on a business nearly similar to that of 
Thomson, Keith & Co., but not so extensive. They employ from 8 
to 10 hands regularly. 

Then there are the large Stove Foundries of J. R. Armstrong and 
John McGee, on Yonge Street, which turn out hundreds of Stoves 
of all varieties and patterns ; also, Soap and Candle factories, To- 
bacco manufactories, and the wholesale manufacture of Boots and 
Shoes. All these Industrial Arts will receive due attention at some 
future time, and have more space devoted to their consideration than 
is now left at my disposal. , 

editors' and authors' literary association. 
It did not occur to me until this last page was making up, that I 
had forgotten to notice the Editors' and Authors' Literary Associa- 
tion — of which I am an unworthy member. In its earlier existence 
this Society had several very pleasing meetings, the general effect of 
winch upon the tone of the city press was most admirable. Of late, 
however, .ocal politics seem to have absorbed every finer emotion, 
and this Society, like many other mellowing influences, has been 
hushed to repose. George Brown, M. P. P. , is still President, and 
Daniel Morrison, proprietor of the Colonist, is Secretary and Trea- 



LOVKLL <fe GIBSON, PRINTERS, TORONTO. 



